


the last of the great imperials

by naevia_nadia



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action, Adventure, Backstory, Bureaucracy, Canon Universe, First Order Culture, First Order Finances, Getting Together, His General Hux, Humor, Hutts, Hux's Personal Lieutenants, M/M, Mitaka as a great third-wheel, Nonbinary Character, Politics, Post-TLJ, Pre-Relationship, References to Grand Marshal Hux, References to Other Star Wars Movies, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, Trans Character, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-26 13:33:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13236801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naevia_nadia/pseuds/naevia_nadia
Summary: After so many losses to the Resistance, one after the other, the First Order finances are solidly in the red.  And the new Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has only one week to raise enough money to revive his new organization before it collapses into itself.  After consulting General Hux, Kylo determines that Hux's bounty put out from a gang boss named Nahai the Hutt would be the perfect amount of money to recover from Starkiller, from Crait and from Admiral Holdo's lightspeed jump into the main First Order fleet.Kylo is able to convince Hux of his plan with the promise of a promotion, but that's the easy part.  The hard part comes when Kylo, with help from one of Hux's personal lieutenants, must infiltrate the palace of the wealthy Hutt gang boss, retake General Hux and escape before the Hutt notices her prisoner is gone.In the process of planning and executing this heist, Kylo learns much about General Hux and the officers who surround him, who support him and who respect him.  Enough so that Kylo looks at Hux and sees him in a new light.  Enough so that Kylo takes the first steps to take their relationship there, into the light.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY 2018 EVERYONE!!
> 
> Wow it's amazing that it's a new year! It reminds me of early 2016, right after TFA came out and fics and art and fandom was just everywhere! I'm so happy to be back in this mindset and to write within it!!
> 
> This fic was inspired by a shitpost tweet on my twitter, where Kylo jokes that they should raise money for the First Order by turning Hux in for a bounty. That shitpost then exploded into this monster of a fic, getting a plot and character development and themes and everything!
> 
> It's been an incredible experience to write a longer fic, one with an actual plot that takes place in multiple locations with tons of original characters and worldbuilding! I've really missed this!
> 
> I guess all I can say now is that I hope you enjoy the fic! :D

 

* * *

 

When Snoke was Supreme Leader, Kylo saw a different…aura to being Supreme Leader.  To be Supreme Leader was to be omniscient, omnipresent.  To be Supreme Leader was to command respect by sheer presence alone.  To be Supreme Leader was to take from the First Order all what it could give, the weaponry, the manpower, the kyber.  Kylo would watch Snoke cultivate all of his influence on his knees, looking forward to when Snoke would bless him with his abundance and let him sit next to him as a right-hand man.

After Snoke was taken care of, Kylo expected this power, this influence, to fall to him.  In a way, it did.  Kylo has enjoyed freedoms he never did under Snoke’s thumb. 

But, of course, there was a part to being Supreme Leader that Kylo didn’t expect.  One that no one warned him about, one that Snoke had to be a part of, since that responsibility has now passed to him.

The First Order budget.

Kylo never expected to have any role in this, so he hadn’t touched it for the few weeks that he’s been Supreme Leader. 

Unfortunately, it seems, neither has anyone else.

“What you’re telling me,” Kylo says, deadpan.  “Is that we have nothing.”

“Well, sir, not nothing,” the lieutenant in front of him says, shaking.  She straightens up further, though that’s impossible considering the straight rod that has been her spine since she began this conversation with Kylo.  Kylo wonders if she volunteered or just drew the short straw.  The short straw seems more likely.  “The First Order treasury, as this rate of expenditure, only has the funds to last one more week.  After that, sir, we will be unable to pay the troops or fuel the ships or fund our contractors or keep relations with our allies or—”

“I understand,” Kylo says with a wave of his hand.  By the Force, these officers could go on and on.  “So, we only have funds for a week.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And we need funds to fuel the war machine that is the First Order.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kylo lets himself smirk.  These officers could so easily be turned into robots, all the same, repeating their affirmatives over and over again, not even realizing they were being messed with.  In times of great stress, messing with First Order officers has helped quite a bit.

“And the First Order is a war machine.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kylo pauses.  The lieutenant in front of him doesn’t blink.

Robotic. 

There’s a reason Kylo never remembers any of the names of the junior officers.  Even the members of High Command, besides Hux, remain nameless to him.  And it’s for one good reason.

There’s never any good reason to remember them.

Kylo turns away from the lieutenant, thinking this problem through.

Funds in the First Order were never under Kylo’s jurisdiction.  And why would they be?  In the past, this was a First Order problem.  And Kylo was never really First Order.  He worked with them, yes, but only because his old master Snoke cultivated their partnership. 

But now that Snoke is dead and Kylo is Supreme Leader, this burden has fallen to him.

Kylo has no idea how to get funds for the First Order.  Oh, he could acquire funds for himself, either by thieving like his father or using the Force to make bank tellers just give him the money, no trouble at all.

However, Kylo doesn’t think he can just waltz into any bank in the Unknown Regions and take the money he needs.  There probably isn’t a bank in the entire _galaxy_ that has enough money to fund the entire First Order right now.  And picking pockets might keep one person eating for a couple days, but that would never last.

Kylo wonders how many First Order members are accomplished pickpockets.  Considering their backgrounds, the fact that many of them come from failed planets or scum-filled streets, fighting in the dirt amongst themselves, Kylo wouldn’t doubt it.

Though perhaps pimping them out would be better.  Again, Kylo knows where they came from.  That makes Kylo snort to himself.  The First Order: a glorified brothel, to raise war funds.

“Sir?” the lieutenant timidly says, bringing Kylo out of his thoughts of prostitution.  “What should I report to Commander Iano?” At Kylo’s unchanging expression, she clarifies.  “That is, our chief financial officer, in the wake of Commander Nura’s death, sir.”

“And Commander Nura usually dealt with funds?”

The lieutenant nods.  “Yes, sir.  Then, she would report to General Hux, sir.”

Hux’s subordinates always speak his name with such respect.  Such reverence.  Kylo wonders where the respect, the reverence came from, for Kylo has never seen reason for it himself.  General Hux is nothing more than a glorified bureaucrat.  Only here because Snoke needed someone to sign papers and get on his knees for First Order allies and make them happy.  Crait was the first time Kylo had seen Hux truly in battle and there?  All he did was scream, report Kylo’s orders louder than he did, to prove a _point_.

Hux didn’t fight.  Not really.

Kylo will never understand these Imperials or their admiration for their commanding officer.

 “General Hux used to handle these financial issues,” Kylo says, voice barely shaking with his rage.  “So.  Tell me.”  He leans in closer to tower over the short officer.  Kylo has found that, for some reason, besides Hux, the younger officers always tend to be short, even considering Kylo’s considerable height.  “Why are you reporting to me and not Hux?”

The lieutenant shakes in her boots.  “Sir…” she nearly squeaks.  “General Hux sent a memo to the financial offices earlier this week with the change, sir.  How the Supreme Leader, sir, would handle the finances.  Like it was with—at the beginning, sir.  Before…before…”

“Before I sliced Snoke in half and took his mantle?”

Kylo can see tears gathering in the lieutenant’s eyes now.  “Yes, sir.”

It would be easy to lift this shivering, sniveling girl up with one hand and show her his displeasure, but Kylo seeks retribution elsewhere.  With who really deserves it.

Kylo is reminded of an earlier time, similar to this one: a young officer shaking in their boots in front of him, delivering him news he didn’t want to hear.  Then, it had been Hux’s fault, but Kylo could do nothing.  Snoke stood in the way, protecting Hux for some reason as yet unknown to Kylo.  But that officer stood, alone, unprotected, just asking for Kylo to reach his hand out and clasp it around their uniformed throat and _squeeze_.

Snoke doesn’t stand in his way now.

“Where is Hux now?” Kylo quietly asks. 

“In a meeting with his lieutenants, sir,” the lieutenant quickly says. 

Kylo furrows his eyebrows.  “Wait, all of them?”  There were thousands of lieutenants aboard the _Finalizer_ , in the entire First Order.  All the more reason to not know their names.  Is Hux meeting with all of them?  Is that when he practices his screeching speeches, forcing his subordinates to listen to him scream and squawk and applaud their general once he’s done?

But the lieutenant shakes her head.  “No, sir.  His personal lieutenants.”

“Who are those?”

The lieutenant twitches her nose.  It’s the one thing that Kylo has seen in the entire meeting with her that makes her unique from the near infinite officers in the First Order.  A nose twitch.  Displeasure at something.  Even then, it’s barely anything.  “I don’t know, sir.  Their identities are unknown to all except General Hux.  And each other, of course.”

“What room are they meeting?”

The lieutenant quickly takes out her datapad and taps at the screen.  “Room 14, sir.”  Then, she startles, for as soon as Kylo Ren heard the number, he was stomping out of the room.  “Am I dismissed, sir?”  she calls out as the Supreme Leader exits.

Kylo doesn’t even try to hold back a scoff.  Doesn’t even bother with an answer.

These damn Imperials.  So obsessed with their protocol.  Just little identical cogs operating in a war machine.  Never to be known, to be remembered.  Just cogs.

 

* * *

 

Walking through the corridors of the Finalizer is yet another test for the new Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. 

Kylo can’t walk damn near one foot without some uniform or another jumping out of his blazing path with a salute and a “Supreme Leader, sir!”.  Soon, Kylo learns to just tune it out, for each declaration of his new title is background noise, akin to the hum of the star destroyer’s engines or the Force presence of so many lifeforms trapped in the stomach of this durasteel beast. 

Soon enough, Kylo makes it to Room 14.  Just on the other side, General Hux and his personal lieutenants (whoever they are) likely sit, laughing as they discuss how Ren must be struggling with his burdens, how he isn’t meant to be Supreme Leader at all.  Kylo can picture the smoke-filled haze of the room, can smell the sickening tobacco, a weakness that all Imperials seem to possess.  Kylo can’t pass through a corridor aboard this ship without seeing one Imperial or more huddled into a corner of the wall, thinking they can’t be seen, and trying to light their cigarette before a superior officer walks by and directs them back to their station.  Usually, their hands shake as they light the tobacco. 

Shaking with rage, Kylo barely remembers to input his override code to open the door rather than just Forcing it open like he would have.  But that always ended up breaking the door eventually, and Kylo can’t afford any more costs piling up on the First Order.  They can only last a week before they go bankrupt, after all.

The doors slide open to reveal, not the laughing crowd that Kylo had imagined nor the crowd of smoke obscuring his vision and irritating his nose, but instead a group of near identical officers, only different through their bare faces, sitting together around a rectangular table.  They may have once looked towards General Hux, who stands at the front of the room next to a projection of some graph or whatever, but instead they look at Kylo, fear evident in their eyes.

One lieutenant shifts slightly to the left, to block another from Kylo’s sight.  Like that would protect them. 

Kylo wonders if the First Order officers think him some reptilian apex predator, in that if they don’t move or speak, he won’t see them. 

But Kylo doesn’t care about Hux’s personal lieutenants, whoever they are.  He looks to the front of the room, where Hux stands, now next to the projector.  Hux shuts it off with the press of a button, and the data vanishes before Kylo’s eyes.  He curses himself for not reading the screen’s contents.  What if that had been about him, about the best plan for a coup?

Scowling now, Kylo looks to Hux.  “You transferred financial control to me.”

“This isn’t the place to talk, Supreme Leader,” Hux replies.

“You didn’t even tell me,” Kylo asks.  He walks into the room towards Hux.  “What’s your plan, Hux?  Do you want me to fail?  Would you sink this ship just to be right?”  Kylo stands in Hux’s space now, towering over him with those few inches that Kylo loves so much.  “Would you destroy the First Order for your own petty pride, General Hux?”

Hux only looks blander.  “Supreme Leader, may we step into the other room, please?” He directs Kylo’s attention to a side door with one arm.  “That would be preferable due to the nature of this topic and the discretion required for it.”

Kylo is so damn tired of the Imperials and their fucking way of speaking he could scream.  Instead, he jerks his head in the affirmative and lets Hux lead him out the meeting room.  He can feel the eyes of Hux’s lieutenants follow them as they leave. 

The side door doesn’t actually lead to another spacious conference room.  Instead, Hux and Kylo stand in a cramped closet full of datapads and other miscellaneous items.  A spare projector sits on a shelf to Kylo’s left.

In front of him, General Hux stands with his hands behind his back.  As soon as the side door slides shut, with he and Kylo alone in the room, Hux whips around with a look of absolute murder on his face.

“Are you a fucking idiot?” Hux hisses.

Kylo nearly pulls his new rank, to keep Hux and his feral snarling contained once more, before he realizes that this is what he misses.  Finally, a ripple in Imperial uniformity.  Kylo could kiss Hux, were he not so fucking _pissed_ at him.

“Excuse me?” Kylo says.  “ _I’m_ the idiot?  I don’t think I’m the fucking genius who didn’t let me know that apparently I’m in control of First Order finances now!”

“I’d thought that’d be obvious,” Hux says meanly.  “I sent you a comm about it three days ago.  I said, ‘Supreme Leader Ren, due to the numerous responsibilities piling up on your general, I must pass along the responsibility of the First Order budget to you, given that this position belonged to the Supreme Leader in the first place and is therefore under your jurisdiction and control’.”  Hux said that entire sentence without taking one breath, and he’s near panting now.  Some loose hairs flutter around his temples, free from Hux’s hair gel.

Hux leans in closer, so that Kylo has to cross his eyes to meet Hux’s own wild eyes.  “Or did our Supreme Leader not check his comms on time?  Or can our Supreme Leader not _fucking_ _read_!”

Hux’s final punctuating screech makes dust fall from the shelves of the closet.  It collects itself on Hux’s shoulders and hair, discoloring the uniform fabric and making Hux’s hair gleam a little less bright.  Gleefully, Kylo thinks of how the dust will stay in Hux’s hair until he washes the gel out at the end of the day.  How pissed Hux will be to see that he was unpresentable to his treasured subordinates. 

Hux breathes hard out of his nose, like a snorting bull.  Kylo can feel each puff of air against his chin. 

Strangely, Hux’s eyes are near black with how dilated his pupils are.  Kylo wonders why; it’s not like the closet is that dark.

Hux hasn’t backed out of Kylo’s space, and Kylo, growing uncomfortable with whatever energy has settled in this closet, speaks into the silence.  “What should I do, Hux?”

Hux narrows his eyes at Kylo before turning around with a flourish.  He picks up one of the spare datapads off the shelves and powers it on.  After turning back around to face Kylo and with a tap of his fingers, Hux pulls up the First Order financial balance.  Kylo knows he’s seen it when Hux’s eyes comically widen.

“How much fucking money did we spend in the past three weeks?” Hux asks himself, beyond incredulous into just plain confused.

“Most of that is,” Kylo shifts on his feet.  Clears his throat.  “Munitions.”

Hux glances up at Kylo with a sneer.  Then, he continues to scroll.  “Two-hundred thousand credits lost to fuel expenses.  Eighty-thousand to blaster munitions, twenty-thousand to bomb.  And the expected financial loss from contractors backing out after the loss of star destroyers, the _Iyotala_ , _Supremacy_ …” Hux shakes his head.  “Well, shit, Supreme Leader, this is a real hole we’re in.”

Hux really said it.  There’s not much Kylo can add to that besides, “How do we raise that kind of money?”

Hux purses his lips at his datapad.  “We can demand tribute from the systems we control, but that won’t be enough for these expenses.  We could conquer planets and seize their assets, but you didn’t leave us with much firepower after the Crait Conflict.  We don’t have much to sell and can’t afford to scrap a star destroyer.  And honestly, we have no time to.”  Hux looks more and more worried now.  He looks up at Kylo.  “What were your ideas, Supreme Leader?”

“Either pickpocketing everyone in a major system or mass prostitution.”

Hux’s expression falls flat.  “You aren’t prostituting my crew.  We aren’t that desperate.”

Kylo scowls and folds his arms.  “Well, those are my get-rich-quick schemes.  It’s not like yours are any better.”

Hux scowls back.  “Well, what do you propose then?  What possible way could we raise millions of credits in a week without showing the galaxy that the First Order got their arses kicked not even two weeks ago?  I can’t make money out of nothing, Supreme Leader, and I won’t gamble my life on that fact either.”

Kylo blinks.  He suddenly has a crazy idea.  “Hux, what’s your bounty right now?”

Hux smirks.  Even before Starkiller, Hux has always had a bounty on his red head.  A multitude of groups, from established governments to street gangs, have put a bounty on General Hux’s head.  Now, with Starkiller, Hux’s bounty has only grown, to his bragging glee.

Before Kylo became Supreme Leader, even in the brief days between the Hosnian Cataclysm and the Crait Conflict, even though Hux didn’t even have time to sleep, Hux took time out of his schedule to bring up his ever-increasing bounty with him. 

“Well, that would depend,” Hux says, smirking.  “I have many bounties, as you know, from many people in this galaxy.  My highest bounty right now is with Nahai the Hutt.  My bounty for her has finally exceeded fifty million credits.  It’s nearly the highest in history, second only to the Emperor himself.”

“Good,” Kylo says.  “Because we’re going to get that bounty.”

“Going to get—” Hux’s face falls into outrage at his sudden realization.  “Bounty?  Ren?  Are you fucking serious?”

“I am,” Kylo says, liking the idea.  “That’s our get-rich-quick scheme.  Turning you in for your bounty.”

Hux starts to turn red.  Starts to panic.  “Supreme Leader, I must protest,” he says.  “The First Order could _not_ go on without me.  I run nearly every program.  The stormtroopers.  The engineering department.  Even the relationships among our allies and our contractors.”

Kylo lets Hux run his course.  Then, calmly, Kylo says, “Hux.  I’ll get you back.”

The phrase doesn’t have the intended effect.  Hux only gets more outraged.  “You?  How?”

Kylo scowls.  “I have the Force, dumbass.”

“Do you think I trust in the _Force_?” Hux asks, wild-eyed.  He gestures at Kylo with a swipe of his hand.  “Do you think I trust in your ability to be _discrete_?”

“Why would I need to be _discrete_?”

“Because...” Hux pauses, takes a deep breath through his nose.  He brings his hands up in front of him in little fists, like he wants to pound them on Kylo’s chest, but Hux holds himself back.  “Because the Dayashi Yui, one of our only fuel suppliers in the Unknown Regions, is allied with that Hutt.”

Kylo is irritated now.  “Why would the Dayashi Yui be allied with the Hutt?  If they’re allied with us?”

Hux is pinching his nose now.  “Ren, my job isn’t to explain to you the nuances of politics that a toddler would understand.  Just believe me when I say that if you barge in to rescue me with your lightsaber out, Yui would be out of our partnership quicker than a nerf with the pasture gate open.  Got it?”

Kylo is too perplexed by whatever metaphor Hux just used to even comprehend what he just said.  But he nods anyway to get Hux to move along.  “Hux, this is the perfect plan.”

“For _you_!” Hux near bellows.

Kylo winces at the volume.  “Well, what else are we supposed to do?” He gestures towards the conference room, out of the cramped closet where he and Hux argue.  “The entire galaxy is watching us for weakness.  If we were to stumble now, we could never recover.  The entire First Order would fall.”

“And wouldn’t it be worse to have the knowledge out that the best general of the First Order has been captured?”  Hux yells back.  “Wouldn’t that make the First Order weak?”

“Not if I rescue you fast enough!”

“And how are you supposed to rescue me if you can’t even manage a fucking _victory_?”

“I’ll make you Grand Marshal.”

Hux is breathing hard.  There’s a hunger to his eyes now.  “What?”

Kylo nods.  This is how to convince Hux.  Dangle power in front of him, and Hux will do anything to seize it.  Snoke was right; Hux is a rabid cur, frothing at the mouth for power.  “If you agree to this plan.  If you allow yourself to be turned in to Nahai the Hutt.  I’ll make you Grand Marshal.”

A small smirk twitches at Hux’s lips.  “Effective immediately?”

“As soon as we get back to the ship,” Kylo says.  “No one has to know.  No one would know that General Hux was captured, even if briefly.”  He walks over to Hux, so that he’s standing in his space again.  Hux looks up at him, power hungry. 

Kylo looks down.  “You have everything to gain, General Hux.  Nothing to lose.”

Hux breathes hard.  His tongue peeks out from his mouth to wet his lips.  “I’ll do it.”

“You will?  Do I have your word?”

“You have it,” Hux says.  His voice is lower than usual, near rough. 

Kylo tilts his head.  “Good.”

“Good,” Hux says back.  “What’s the plan, then, Supreme Leader?”

Kylo hums.  “I honestly don’t know yet.”

Hux blinks, then leans back with a sneer.  “You don’t _know_ yet?  I’m gambling my life on a _whim_?”

Kylo waves his hand at Hux.  “Don’t be so dramatic, Hux.  We have the start of a plan.  We’ll surrender you to Nahai the Hutt.  Then, we’ll wait a couple hours and get you back.  It’ll take like a day at most.”

“Again, I repeat, Supreme Leader,” Hux says.  Somehow, he’s even more pissed than earlier in the conversation, which Kylo thought impossible.  “We cannot have you both surrender me to the Hutt and rescue me.”

“Why?”

“Because your face is known to the galaxy now,” Hux says.  “On Crait to those surviving rebels.  On the AT-AT, to the crew.  Even on the star destroyers.  Ever since you lost your mask, your ability to be disguised without it is lost.  We cannot take a chance on the Hutt knowing the new Supreme Leader of the First Order has swindled her.  The First Order would lose all its allies.”  Hux shakes his head.  “There’s nothing worse in the Unknown Regions than a liar or a swindler or a thief.  We can’t have any of those as our Supreme Leader.”

“Then who’ll do it?” Kylo asks.  “Who do you know that’s a liar or a swindler or a thief?”

Hux looks down in thought.

He doesn’t have to think long.

Hux looks to Kylo with wariness.  “I know someone.”

Kylo nods.  “Good.”  Then, he claps.  “Good!  Where are they?”

“Before I tell you who they are,” Hux says.  “You must promise not to freak them out.”

“If they’re an officer in the First Order,” Kylo says. “I’ll freak them out.”

Hux shakes his head.  “No, no.  You’ll…you’ll know them.”

Kylo sighs.  “Fine, whatever.  I promise not to freak them out with my Force powers.  Can you stop being so secretive, so we can hurry up?  We’re losing money by the second.”

Hux scowls.  “You think I don’t know that?”  Then, he brushes past Kylo with a shove (familiar and missed by Kylo) before opening the door.

“All of you,” Hux says.  “You’re dismissed.”  Then, a pause.  “Except Mitaka.”

Immediately, a chorus of ‘ohhhs’ sound from the conference room.  It reminds Kylo of being in school as a youngling.  Whenever any of his classmates got in trouble, all of the students would say ‘ohhhhh’ as the troublemaker was led away by the teacher or sent to the headmaster’s office. 

That chorus followed a young Ben Solo many times in school.

Apparently, that chorus follows Hux too, if his annoyed tone is to mean anything.  “How old are you all, twelve?  Are we in the junior Academy?  Out, all of you.”  Then, Hux’s voice softens, though barely.  “You’re not in trouble, Mitaka, just…stay in your seat.  Please.”

Kylo stands there in the closet and listens as Hux’s lieutenants proceed out, trying to be quiet as they talk, but only succeeding in creating a dull buzz of noise that follows them out the door.  Kylo can’t see Hux’s face, but he gestures with one arm rather ridiculously at whoever this ‘Lieutenant Mitaka’ is.  Whatever silent conversation they’re having must be intense.

After resolving whatever silent argument Hux was having with his lieutenant, Hux turns back to him with a glare.  Kylo nearly backs up before remembering that he’s Supreme Leader here, _and_ he has the Force.

Hux holds up a finger.  He points it at Kylo’s face.  “Remember.  No intimidating.  None of that Force shit.  Nothing scary.  Got it?”

Kylo is too bewildered to argue.  He nods.

Hux closes his eyes in relief.  He lowers his pointing finger.  “Fine.”  Hux narrows his eyes at Kylo.  “Follow me, Supreme Leader.”

Kylo follows Hux out of the closet and back into the conference room.  No longer do Hux’s personal lieutenants sit around the rectangular table.  Now, only one sits, staring wide-eyed as Hux and Kylo approach.  Unlike most officers Kylo sees in conference rooms, the rare times Snoke forced him to attend High Command meetings, the First Order command cap is still atop this lieutenant’s head.  His hands, meanwhile, are clasped around each other on the table.  Kylo can hear the leather creaking as the lieutenant clenches his hands. 

Even without the Force, Kylo would know this lieutenant is about to have a heart attack.  But with the Force, the impression is a lot clearer.  A phantom tightness around the lieutenant’s throat.  Being aloft in the air and having no control over one’s muscles.  Not being able to breathe.

Kylo narrows his eyes at the lieutenant.  “Have we met before?”

The lieutenant startles at being spoken to and looks toward Hux for guidance.

Hux, meanwhile, looks appalled.  “Met?  Of course you’ve met him, Supreme Leader.   You nearly choked the shit out of him three weeks ago!”

“It wasn’t that bad,” the lieutenant murmurs. 

Hearing his voice brings everything back.

Kylo snaps his fingers.  “Yes!  Yes.  You reported to me about the Resistance droid.  About the girl who found the droid.”  The girl who ended up being Rey, the girl who bested him in battle and the one who rejected his offer of unlimited power. 

Apparently, the lieutenant is smarter than he looks, since he shrinks back into his seat at Kylo’s growing anger. 

Hux, meanwhile, has a different reaction to Kylo’s anger.  “Regardless of how we all met each other, we have something else to focus on now.”  Hux turns to Lieutenant Mitaka.  “How much of all that did you hear?”

Mitaka lifts a fist to his mouth and clears his throat.  Kylo can see his hand just barely shaking.  He wonders if it’s because of nerves or if Lieutenant Mitaka just needs a smoke.  “Mostly…all of it, sir,” he says, looking up at Hux.

Hux sighs and rubs his eyebrows.  Finally, he takes a seat across from Mitaka.  Kylo follows and sits next to Hux.  “Then you know how important this is.  And how imperative it is we do this right.” 

“Of course, sir.”

“Mitaka, I usually wouldn’t ask this, but drop the formality,” Hux says.  “Drop the ranks, yeah?  This is an off the books mission, just the same as the other ones.”

Something shifts in Mitaka’s face at Hux’s words.  “All right.”

Hux pauses, twisting his mouth, before he begins speaking again.  “I would usually ask Opan to do this,” he says to Mitaka.  “Since he’s the field operative, but we both know Opan and we both know that he’ll just slaughter the Hutt and all of her followers, no care for the political situation at hand.  Are we in agreement?”

“Yes,” Mitaka says.  He looks at his hands.  “Opan wouldn’t be good for this mission.”  He glances up briefly to meet Hux’s eyes, then Kylo’s for an even shorter period of time, before looking back to Hux.  “But I don’t have experience with extraction.  And this is an extraction mission.  I still think Opan would be better for this.”

“Opan is a vicious, bloodthirsty creature,” Hux says.  “That’s not a critique.  That’s just who he is.  It’s why I employ him as I do.  He can do what I can’t.  And what _you_ can’t.  But Opan isn’t meant for sneaking around behind the scenes.”

“No,” Mitaka says.  “Because you need a liar and a swindler and a thief.”

Hux sighs.  “We do, Mitaka.”

Throughout that conversation, Kylo felt like he was standing to the side, observing two people plan through a mission that they’ve done countless time.  Kylo wonders if, every time, Hux had to convince Mitaka to be this liar, this swindler, this thief.  If every time, it’s this hard to convince a junior officer, a subordinate by multiple levels.  To force him to obey.

Kylo wonders if he’ll have to order Lieutenant Mitaka to agree to his plan, if he’ll have to threaten this already meek looking officer and bully him into submission, but Mitaka eventually nods to himself, then at Hux.

Then, Mitaka turns to Kylo.  Curiously, he doesn’t look into Kylo’s eyes.  Instead, Mitaka directs his attention to Kylo’s left eyebrow.  “What’s the plan, sir?”

“So far,” Kylo says, trying to sound like a Supreme Leader about his plan and not give up that he’s literally just winging it right now.  “Our plan is to turn General Hux over to Nahai the Hutt for the fifty million credit bounty.  Then, we’ll just…hang around, I guess, until it’s better to get Hux back.  I’ll rescue Hux using the Force to guide me, and we’ll be out of the system before the Hutt even realizes we’ve left.”  Kylo nods.  “And that’s the plan.”

Mitaka blinks once.  “Well, that’s a…good start, sir.”

“What Mitaka means to say is that your plan’s shit, Ren,” Hux interrupts.  “That doesn’t give us anything.  How are we to contact the Hutt?  Do we just waltz in there with me all wrapped in a bow?  What about the extraction?  What’s the layout of the Hutt’s palace or fort or whatever?  How are we getting in?  How am I getting out?  Supreme Leader, I beg your pardon, but really!  This is _my_ life on the line!”

“Hux is right, Supreme Leader,” Mitaka says.  “I’ve never personally engaged with this Hutt, but my aunt has, and Nahai the Hutt is intelligent beyond her years.”  Mitaka pauses, like he’s bracing himself for the next sentence.  “Nahai learned from the Jabba Fiasco, when he was murdered by the Huttslayer herself.  She knows the Force well, sir, she will likely have prepared.”

“The Force is not so easily contained.”

“There’s good reason Nahai the Hutt has the largest bounty on Hux’s head,” Mitaka counters.  “She’s smart and crafty and distrustful of even her closest allies.  Executing this mission…it will be difficult, sir.”

“Which is why we must _plan_ _ahead_ ,” Hux says.  “Especially since it’s _my_ _life_.”

Mitaka shakes his head.  “From what I’ve heard, the Hutt wouldn’t kill you.  She’d just sell you off to the highest bidder, likely a government or another.  Then, you would stand a mock trial and be executed.  But with Nahai, you’d be fine.  I don’t think she’d even chance the carbonite treatment for someone of your caliber.”

Hux looks vaguely nauseous.  “How comforting.”

The rest of the planning follows suit.  Usually, Kylo will suggest an idea that Mitaka will gently try and dissuade, only to have Hux shut it down with the subtlety of a bomb going off.  Hux brought up a blueprint of the Hutt’s palace, complete with room labels and everything, so that Kylo and Mitaka would know where to turn Hux in and how to sneak back inside to break him out. 

Kylo had no idea a Hutt’s palace could be so refined.  What he had heard about Hutts in his life ranged from disparaging to outright hate.  To see evidence of their intelligence was jarring.

“Finally,” Hux says.  “We need to discuss how we will look to the Hutt.”

“Obviously, we can’t look First Order,” Mitaka says.

“Well, I can,” Hux says.  “Since the story is you and Ren just yanked me off the streets in a nearby spaceport.”  Hux pauses.  “But, yes, Mitaka, you and Ren can’t look First Order.”

Hux and Mitaka stare at each other in silence.  Whatever silent discussion they’re having is unknown to Kylo.  And he remembers Hux’s threat from earlier: no Force nerfshit.  Considering this is the only way to save the First Order from bankruptcy, Kylo has to listen to Hux. 

Otherwise, Kylo wouldn’t.  He outranks Hux, after all.

Mitaka gives in to Hux’s staring.  He nods.  “Yes.  I’ll do it.”

Kylo is confused.  “Do what?”

Hux acts like he didn’t even hear Kylo.  “What about Ren?”

“I have a mask,” Mitaka says.  “It’ll…fit in with the general theme.”  Then, Mitaka looks to Kylo.  “Do you have civilian clothing?  Tan or any other kind of brown?”

“I have a nerf leather jacket and pants?”

Mitaka nods.  “Good.  That’ll match.  It’ll need to look kind of frayed and dirty, too, but I can fix that later.”

“All right,” Hux says.  “So.  Plan is to meet in Hangar 21 at 2300 tonight?”

“Is that the impound hangar?” Mitaka asks.

“If you mean there’re be non-First Order shuttles there,” Hux says.  “Then yes.  I think there’s a Y’Blin’A Comet parked in the hangar.  That’s large enough for a bounty hunter, but small enough to be discrete.”

Mitaka blinks.  Then, he looks to Kylo.  “I guess we really are bounty hunters then.”

“I guess so.”

A small smile crosses Mitaka’s face before it sinks back into the neutrality seen in every First Order officer.  “We’ll need names, then.  Disguises.”  He looks to Kylo then.  “Do you have a name, sir?”

“I have many names, but all would be unsuited here,” Kylo says.  “I could go by one of my knights.  Ronan Ren.  I could just go by Ronan, right?”

Mitaka purses his lips.  “By bounty hunter standards, you might need something more…dramatic.  How about Ronan the Red?  Or Ronan Rhet?”

“Anyway,” Hux says, loudly interrupting his lieutenant.  “We’re agreed then?  We’ll meet at 2300 in Hangar 21?  Mitaka, will that give you enough time to prepare?”

“Of course.”

Hux looks to Kylo now.  “Supreme Leader, you remember your promise?  If I do this, you will make me Grand Marshal?”

“A Knight keeps his word,” Kylo says.

“Is that another of your names, sir?” Mitaka asks.  “How many do _you_ have?”

Hux sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.  Kylo can feel the beginnings of a headache forming, encroaching on his own mind through the Force.  “All right.  I’ll see you all in a couple of hours.  I’m going to go change into my old uniform.”  Hux scoffs, then says quietly to himself.  “Can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.  This will be a shitshow.”

Kylo wants to agree, even though this is technically his own plan.

 

* * *

 

“Where the hell is that lieutenant?” Hux says, squinting out the shuttle viewport.

“How am I supposed to know?” Kylo mutters back.  He shifts where he stands in the cockpit of this Y’Blin’A Comet.  According to Hux, the First Order had seized this shuttle after its occupant had tried to sneak into a High Command meeting and steal First Order secrets.  That spy had met an unfortunate end by some Captain Opan, but their shuttle had been seized for missions like this.  When it was necessary for a First Order operative to be discrete. 

Kylo wonders, already exhausted somehow, if to be discrete for a First Order officer was to bellow nonsense from the cockpit. 

“I said 2300 in this hangar, didn’t I, Ren?” Hux asks.

“Hux, it’s two minutes past the hour,” Kylo says.  “He’s not dead.”

“This mission is of the utmost important to the First Order,” Hux says.  “To be late is to jeopardize our success.  We need these credits tonight to break even for the next month.  Without this money, the First Order will fall!”

Kylo hadn’t realized how cold the _Finalizer_ was until today.  Usually, he was covered in plenty of layers that served as portable blankets, keeping him warm.  Now, wearing just a thin long sleeve shirt, a nerf leather jacket and pants, Kylo is near shivering. 

Hux takes out his comm from his uniform tunic.  His greatcoat won’t make the trip, likely because Hux only has one.  “Did he comm me or something?  Maybe he got caught up, maybe he got discovered.  If the greater troops knew of our financial situation, we might have a mutiny on our hand.”  Hux swears at his comm.  “Do you think he’s in trouble?  Someone must have discovered him sneaking about.  It’s not like his normal shifts are in the middle of the night or anything.  He might be in the brig.  Someone could have turned him in for desertion even.  Wandering around at night is suspicious for a junior officer.  Fuck, Ren, we might need to sound an alarm or something.  Mitaka could be anywhere, he could be _dead_.”

“There he is,” Kylo casually says.  He points to the approaching figure outside the viewport.

“I should at least comm Mira—what?” Hux says.  He looks up from his comm to scowl at the viewport.  “Oh, that piece of shit,” he hisses before turning around and storming out of the cockpit. 

Not wanting to be caught in the crossfire, Kylo doesn’t follow Hux out.  But being nosy to a fault, he leans on the wall right next to the cockpit door and listens in.

Kylo hears the shuttle door open, then, immediately.

“Dopheld Mitaka, where the hell have you been?”

“Fucking shit,” Mitaka near yells in surprise.  “ _Fuck_ , you startled me.”

“Yeah, I startled _you_?” Hux asks, incredulous.  “Do you have any idea what time it is?’

“I was in the _kitchens_.”

“What, getting a snack?  Really?”

“Yes, really, but I wasn’t getting a snack.  I had to get some nerf’s blood.”

“Really?  So that’s blood all over your neck and not smeared lipstick?”

A pause then.  “I was only three minutes late.  I ran and everything.”

“Well, whatever,” Hux near snarls.  “Thank you for _running_ , lieutenant.”

Kylo can hear Hux stomp back to the cockpit.  He jumps back to stand by the controls, so that Hux wouldn’t realize he was eavesdropping and direct his ire towards him. 

Hux near slams the door when he gets back into the cockpit.  “Let’s go.”

Kylo doesn’t look up from where he was running some unnecessary diagnostics tests on the shuttle engine.  “What about my disguise?”

“Once we get into lightspeed, Supreme Leader,” Hux snarls, eye twitching.  “We’re five minutes late already, and I want to get this fucking over with.”

“Then buckle up, General Hux, and we’ll be off,” Kylo says.  He takes the pilot’s seat.  A smile nearly overtakes his face as he flips the switches and twists the dials to start up this sleek shuttle.  “We’re only five minutes late and everything.”

“With all my respect, Supreme Leader, shut up and floor it.”

Kylo snorts and fucking floors it.  They coast out of the open hangar.  As soon as they reach a safe distance away from the _Finalizer_ , Kylo grabs hold of the lightspeed throttle and pushes it forward.  The stars outside the viewport begin to wobble.  Then, with barely even a lurch, the shuttle slips into lightspeed.  The stars streak by, carrying them to their destination.

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Osorio, Nahai the Hutt’s planet of residence, would be beautiful, were it not for the gray dust that chokes the air and drifts downwards to collect on drab houses and dirty streets.  The Hutt’s opulent residence, seen glittering even from the air, was far from the poverty that encompassed the main city.  The building was large and domed, accented in gold, with a lawn of curated grass in front of it.  All of it was boxed in by a gold fence. 

A large forest further divided the Hutt from the common people.  That is where Kylo landed the shuttle, in a clearing devoid of the spindly trees that grew in the polluted soil.  That is the forest Kylo, Hux and Mitaka had walked through to make it to the entry gates of the Hutt’s opulent residence.  A wide field of perfectly green grass surrounded by a gilded fence, with hedge sculptures and marble statues dotting the landscape, stood in between the bleak forest and the grandiose palace that was Nahai the Hutt’s place of operation.

While in lightspeed, Kylo and Hux had taken the time to research what operations Nahai the Hutt had influence in.  They saw her name appear in the crime syndicates of Shi’Shri.  They saw her name arise in the slave states of Urupa, close to the Outer Rim. 

Most importantly to Kylo, Nahai the Hutt’s name appeared in the logbooks of near every ysalamir breeder in the surrounding systems.  To Kylo, that meant one thing: the Force would be unavailable to him in Nahai’s palace.  True to what Mitaka had said just the day before, Nahai had learned from the Huttslayer and the circumstances behind Jabba’s death.  While others grew complacent in the knowledge that the Jedi were extinct and Force users near with them, Nahai had only grown warier.

Some may have called Nahai’s investment in ysalamir a waste, an unnecessary expense, but for this mission, she will have the upper hand over Kylo. 

And that makes Kylo very nervous.

But there’s no time to wait.  The First Order is losing money by the second, and Kylo can’t afford to have his next test as Supreme Leader be yet another failure. 

Neither Hux nor Kylo slept in the lightspeed trip to Osorio.  And neither did Mitaka, judging by the noises that reached Kylo and Hux from inside the cockpit.  Kylo wondered what Mitaka was doing, but the answer was made evident to him as soon as he and Hux exited the cockpit, after landing the shuttle in a clearing in the bleak forest, to see Mitaka standing there, completely unlike how he looked aboard the ship.

From behind the wooden eye mask, covered in sigils painted in nerf’s blood, Kylo tracks the points of Mitaka’s antlers with some wariness.  They protrude out from his forehead, from a specially designed headpiece of tough leather and bronze, to curl upwards like horns.  The upper prongs, like Kylo’s mask, have been coated in blood, though Kylo can see no pattern to it besides the blood that runs down in random streaks to color antler’s dull base. 

Hanging from the antlers are a set of dog tags.  They are Hux’s own dog tags that Mitaka took from Hux before blindfolding him.  They clink against each other with each one of Mitaka’s steps, echoing off the arched ceilings of the Hutt’s entry room.

Mitaka’s face has changed too.  Unlike how he looks as an officer on the _Finalizer_ , Mitaka’s eyes are painted in red, like the eyeliner Kylo sees in bars, though far more dramatic.  Kylo hopes the eyeliner is really _just_ eyeliner and not blood like on his antlers.  This redness even extends to the tips of Mitaka’s ears.

The antlers and Mitaka’s face are the only detail revealed to Kylo.  Everything else Mitaka wears is concealed beneath a furred black cloak that’s bound by a thick belt of black leather around his waist.  The cloak trails on the ground, like Kylo’s own clothing he wore for Starkiller Base.

Mitaka leads the blindfolded Hux with on firm grip on Hux’s wrists through the Hutt’s long entry room.  Kylo follows behind in his preplanned role: as hired muscle, only interested in working with Mitaka for the credits.  On each side of the path they walk stand wooden posts reaching up towards the high ceiling.  On top of each pole is a cage.  A ysalamir hisses and growls from each one. 

As Kylo walks further into the Hutt’s entry room, he can feel the Force grow dimmer and dimmer.  He looks to one of the ysalamiri.  The beast hisses at him. 

Quickly, Kylo looks away, facing forward once more, following Lieutenant Mitaka’s cloaked form as he leads Hux down the walkway.  Towards the Hutt and her assembled court, who wait at the very end of the hall.  The Hutt sits on a makeshift throne of some kind, though the throne is more akin to a bed than anything else.  She reclines on it, eating still wriggling insects from a plate held aloft from a kneeling slave. 

Kylo notes the collar around the slave’s neck.  It’s wrought in gold.

At long last, the Hutt looks up from her court to look at the approaching figures.  At her silence, the court too falls silent.  A wriggling insect, still in her fist, manages to break free, dropping to the floor and scurrying away.  Before the insect can escape, though, a strange animal, like a monkey with wings, leaps forward and snatches it.  Kylo can hear the crunch of the insect’s skin as the monkey bites down, ravenous.  The gold harness around its body glitters with the beast’s movement.

Nahai the Hutt smiles down at Mitaka.  “What is this, then?” she says in heavily accented Basic.  “What cause do you have to interrupt my court, Aetherian?”

Kylo blinks at the word.  Aetherian. 

He’s never heard of it.

Mitaka has, apparently.  He bows his head.  Kylo is reminded of a stag brandishing his antlers, about to charge into his rival.  Mitaka holds none of this aggression when he says, “Great Nal Hutta.  I am honored by your presence.”

Nahai blinks once before tilting her head back in a bellowing laugh.  Her court follows suit, laughing and giggling along with her.  When she calms, she wipes a tear from her eye with one short, stubby arm.  “Great Aetheria,” she says, grandiosely mocking Mitaka as she too bows her head.  “I am too honored by your presence in my hall.  And by the presence of your guests, of course.”

“You refer to my partner, Ronan,” Mitaka says, leaning up out of his bow.  “He aided me in the capture of this man.”  Mitaka shakes Hux hard.  Hux doesn’t react at all to Mitaka’s rough handling of him.  “I have brought him to you, for your reward.”

Nahai waves a hand.  “Then why all the dramatics, fawn?  I have established how to collect bounties for all on my wanted list.  Take it up with—”

Mitaka’s nose twitches.  Kylo, in that moment, is reminded of Hux.  “I bring you the Starkiller, my lady.  General Hux.”

The court immediately bursts into whispers.  Nahai waves a hand to shut them up, and when that fails, she bellows, “Hush!  Or you are all banished!”

The court immediately falls silent.  Nahai turns her attention back to Mitaka.  There’s a gleam in her eyes that wasn’t there before.  “The Starkiller, Great Aetheria?” she asks.  Kylo notices her tone holds respect now.  No longer does she mock.  “Prove it to me.”  She gestures at Hux.  “Show me his eyes.”

Mitaka reaches up and pulls Hux’s blindfold down.  Hux immediately squints and blinks in the harsh light of the room.  When he opens them, it’s to see a Hutt and her court staring greedily at him.

Hux gulps and doesn’t say a word. 

Next to Hux, still keeping a tight hold on Hux’s wrists, Mitaka continues.  “I’ve brought you the Starkiller,” he says.  “Now.  Give me my credits.”

“Of course, Aetherian,” the Hutt says.  She motions at one of her court members, who hurries away to fetch the aforementioned credits.  “But first…you must tell me.”  Nahai slithers off her throne.  Her court and attending slaves jump out of the way.  The winged monkey lands on her shoulder and screeches.

Nahai slithers down the ramp elevating her above her visitors.  She stops in front of Mitaka and Hux, Kylo still off to the side.  At this close a distance, Kylo can see purple paint across her face, overemphasizing her eyes and the lines in her face.  So similar to Mitaka’s own.  “ _How_ did you capture the First Order’s most famous general?”

“We picked him off from a spaceport.”

Nahai shakes her head.  “I didn’t ask _where_.  I asked _how_.”

Mitaka blinks. 

The monkey screeches from atop the Hutt’s shoulder. 

Kylo feels a rush of panic.  He and Hux had been more concerned with the layout of the palace, with rescuing Hux once he was turned in, than turning Hux in itself.  And the small story they had planned was that Hux was plucked off the streets.  They hadn’t expected the Hutt to want to know _how_ a bounty hunter got Hux.  They just thought she’d be happy to have him.

From behind his mask, Kylo looks to Mitaka. 

But on Mitaka’s face, behind the red-painted eyes and the blood tipped ears, is a careful neutrality.  Not unlike how he appeared to Kylo in the conference room.  Like so many First Order officers appear to him.  Blank.  Unfeeling.  Nothing.  Cogs, not worth looking into.

“As you know, the First Order has lost their Supreme Leader,” Mitaka says.  “And a new Supreme Leader takes his place.”  Mitaka shakes Hux then.  “But this one is reckless.  He believed that a weak Resistance and a broken New Republic meant that he could walk where he pleased.  This one.”  Another shake.  “This one was walking in port when I saw him.  Alone but for three troopers.  Easily taken out by me and my friend here.”  He gestures to Kylo with a tilt of his antlered head.

“You must be powerful then,” Nahai says.  “To take down stormtroopers alone.”

“I had help.”

“Even still, Great Aetheria,” the Hutt says.  “Three stormtroopers?  With just the two of you?  I see no wounds.  On you or your friend.  Not on the general himself, who we both know is capable of some damage.  I wonder, Aetherian, how did you capture this man with no injury?  Concealed beneath your cloak they may be, but for General Hux?  I would expect more.”

Nahai gestures behind her, at her court.  From beneath their cloaks they draw blasters. 

Kylo draws out his own blaster, cursing himself for not bringing his lightsaber.  He knew this would happen.  Knew the Hutt would suspect something. 

“Who are you really, Aetherian?”  Nahai asks.  From behind her, her court approaches, blasters drawn.  “Or are you _really_ Aetherian?”

Kylo raises his blaster.  He hears one of Nahai’s people prime their own. 

Then, before Kylo can even react, Mitaka raises his foot and kicks the back of Hux’s knee.  With a cry, Hux falls to his knees, yelling again as Mitaka grabs some of his hair to pull his head back.  With a flourish, Mitaka reaches beneath his cloak and draws forth a weapon Kylo has never seen before.

Yet the shimmering crystal, in mottled blues and reds, is familiar to him.

Nahai immediately gasps at the sight.  “Kyber,” she near moans.

Mitaka holds the curved kyber knife against Hux’s neck.  Hux breathes hard, near hyperventilating, at having the sharp blade so close to his throat.  “You will give me my bounty,” Mitaka says, voice low.  “All fifty million credits.  You will release me and my friend and let me walk from your hall.”

“I will give you one million extra for the knife,” Nahai says.  She reaches forward, towards Hux’s throat.

“No.”

“Two million!” Nahai exclaims.  “For the kyber!”

“I want my fifty million for Hux,” Mitaka says.  He presses the knife closer against Hux’s throat, near cutting into him.  Hux whimpers.  “You’d rather have him alive than dead, right, Nahai?  To sell him to the highest bidder?  To charge one hundred to the New Republic for this war criminal?”

Nahai’s expression turns ugly.  “You drive a hard bargain, Aetherian.”

“I drive no bargain,” Mitaka says.  “I only ask for what I’m owed.  And if you pursue me further for this knife, I _will_ know and will let everyone who wants Hux know that he’s in your possession.”  Mitaka tilts his head.  The Hutt tracks one of the bloodied prongs.  “I know you aren’t a military woman, Nahai.  Your forces are _nothing_ compared to those I could have sold Hux to.”

Nahai scowls.  “Fine, Aetherian.”  She gestures for her court member, the one who left earlier to get the bounty credits.  All are contained in one slim card.  She hands it to Mitaka with one stubby hand.  “Fifty million.  I give you my word.”

Mitaka releases Hux’s hair to take the bounty card.  After swiping his thumb over the top, confirming that there are indeed fifty million credits, he nods.  Then, Mitaka pulls the knife away from Hux’s throat, twirls it once and tucks it back under his cloak.

As a final statement, Mitaka shoves Hux forward, so that he lands on his hands and knees.  “I thank you for your payment, Great Nal Hutta.”  He gives one last bow of his antlered head, though sarcastic this time, before turning around and walking away, cloak fluttering behind him.

Kylo sees a snarl overtake Mitaka’s face as he passes by.  Overset with the bloodied antlers and the red paint around his eyes, the snarl is especially feral.

Kylo looks to Hux.  He’s still on his hands and knees, prostrate before this Hutt gang boss.  She looks at Hux with hunger, speaking words that Kylo can’t hear.  Kylo wishes he had the Force here, so he could sink into Hux’s mind and briefly offer him words of encouragement, a promise that he and Mitaka would soon be back to rescue him.  After all, Kylo has no idea how to run the First Order.  Hux is the one who knows the First Order, knows its allies and its enemies.  Kylo knows next to nothing.  Before he became Supreme Leader, he never had to.

Kylo has never wanted to touch Hux’s mind before.  He had convinced himself it would be as slimy as the smirk on Hux’s face as he left his meeting with Snoke.  But now, with Kylo walking farther and farther away from Hux, that’s all he wants to do.  Kylo wants to press into Hux’s mind and touch his spirit, just briefly, for just a greedy second.

But no.  Kylo can’t afford to compromise their cover.  And Hux knows what he’s doing; he’s been through the Academy.  He survived and thrived under Snoke, and this Hutt can’t be worse than Snoke. 

Hux can endure a Hutt till night, when Kylo will be back to rescue him. 

For now, Kylo follows Mitaka’s cloaked form.  Even from this far away, he can see his blood-soaked antlers, glistening.  Can hear Hux’s dog tags clink against each other, leading Kylo out of the Hutt’s palace and away from the general.

 

* * *

 

Mitaka had suggested lunch, since he and Kylo left the Hutt’s palace right as the sun was cresting in the sky.  Kylo had agreed.  His stomach had rumbled appreciatively at the suggestion.  And besides: they needed to waste time before night fell.  According to Mitaka, night was the best time to break into someone’s house and steal from them.

Kylo applied the same logic of stealing jewelry to extracting a target and couldn’t find any fault in Mitaka’s plan.

Lunch was a quiet affair.  Kylo spent most of his time tearing into a nerf steak, happy in the thought that now, away from the ysalamiri, he could use the Force to trick the waiter into believing he paid for his meal.  However, when Kylo wasn’t busy enjoying his meal, he was casually glancing at Mitaka’s hips, where he senses not one, but two, kyber knives to be hilted.

The First Order never presented itself as a Force-worshipping institution.  Kylo had wondered in the past if anyone even _knew_ what the Force was.  All the evidence pointed to no; the First Order damn near worshipped the star destroyers they lived on.

But to have evidence of kyber, just in front of him.  Evidence that even just one of the officers had access to it, knew about it. 

Well, Kylo couldn’t help but be intrigued. 

But Mitaka gave no sign of being talkative.  He spent the meal gnawing on chicken bones and running a finger up and down one of his headpiece antlers, now devoid of Hux’s dog tags, in what had to be a nervous tick.  Most likely going over the plan to rescue Hux.

Hux.

Kylo is brought away from thoughts of kyber to the general.  Hopefully, Hux is doing all right.  Kylo has tried to Force project himself to Hux’s side, but the ysalamiri are making the Hutt’s palace a Force dead zone.  No one could penetrate the Force dulling energy of that many ysalamiri.  Kylo tried to, and all he succeeded at was a headache.

Suddenly, Mitaka stands and brushes down his cloak.  Without a sound, he leaves the table to melt into the crowd.  Kylo gets up to follow him, thoughts of Hux still in his mind. 

Behind him, Kylo can hear their waiter yelling alien slurs at them, but Kylo pays him no mind.

Looking upon Osorio from the air was better than walking through the streets now.  Grime exists in every crevasse of every building in this city.  Everything smells of burnt rubber, that or sweat or piss, so unlike a star destroyer that Kylo’s nose twitches with a sneeze with every gust of wind.  Fog from the neighboring factory chokes the air with haze, dulling Kylo’s vision so that everything appears to him in shades of gray.  Even the numerous people, humans and aliens and all in between, are tinged with gray.  Colors are muted. 

Even Mitaka’s bloody antlers are muted, where they stick out from the crowd like two signal posts keeping Kylo and Mitaka together.

 “What are we doing now?” Kylo yells to Mitaka.  “Where are we going?”

Mitaka looks back at Kylo.  “I don’t know,” he says as he weaves around one particularly slow woman.  “Wandering.”

Kylo has worse luck maneuvering around the woman.  He huffs in frustration once he makes it behind Mitaka again. 

They continue like this for a while.  Mitaka, wandering in a nonsensical pattern in front of him, and Kylo following.  People bump against Kylo constantly, jarring him, pressing their Force presences into his mind and making him nauseous. 

Kylo is just about to suggest stopping and going back to the ship when Mitaka suddenly veers to the right, towards a dark alley that is anything but inviting.

Kylo growls to himself and follows.  The flow of the crowd impedes him as he forces his way to the right.  Soon enough, he makes it to the damp, grimy alleyway.  Mitaka stands in front of him, looking at a set of trashcans just beyond them.

Kylo walks up with a scowl on his face to lecture Mitaka on the importance of communication when walking through a crowded street when Mitaka holds up a hand. 

“Wait,” Mitaka whispers.  He tilts his head towards the trash cans.

Kylo looks at the trash cans, but sees nothing but metal bins. 

Before Kylo can comment, Mitaka whistles.  “I can see you, child,” Mitaka says.  “Your arm is sticking out from behind the bins.”

Kylo looks back at the bins to see a pale arm.  Soon, a small human child with long, stringy black hair peeks out, glaring at Mitaka. 

“We both know you’re going to give my credits back,” Mitaka says.

The girl looks down with a scowl before coming out from behind the bins.  She’s wearing what has to be an old vegetable sack with holes cut for her arms and head.  A piece of twine around her waist gives it some form.

And tucked within the twine is a small knife, likely a kitchen knife, with a dull blade and chipped handle.

At Kylo’s look, the girl draws her blade and holds it in front of her.

Mitaka doesn’t react except to crouch.  His cloak bunches around him, making him look like some kind of fluffy nerf.  The girl doesn’t react except to grasp her knife just a bit more tightly.

Mitaka holds out his hand.  “My credits, please.”

With a scream, the girl runs toward Mitaka, knife held above her head.  As she brings if down, Mitaka raises his own arm to catch the blade by his wrist.  The blade, even dull, could have sliced Mitaka’s wrist, were it not for the antlered gauntlet that covers it.  It’s nearly like the sleeve of an officer’s uniform tunic, for it covers the same wrist, though instead of being black it allows Kylo to see the near unnatural paleness to Mitaka’s wrist that spaceflight gives people.

The girl looks at Mitaka with a furrowed expression, confused.  Before she can pull back, Mitaka twists his wrist and breaks the girl’s grip.  The knife clatters to the ground. 

“First thing about wielding a knife,” Mitaka says.  “Is you don’t charge with it.  This isn’t a sword.  You bring your enemy to you.  Then you strike.  Yes?”

The girl doesn’t respond.  Only looks at Mitaka with real fear in her eyes now.

Mitaka smiles slightly.  “Now.  My money, please?”

With a scowl, the girl reaches towards her twine belt and takes out the credit card.  Kylo near collapses to see a pickpocket holding fifty million credits in her hand.  “You shouldn’t keep your money on your belt,” she says petulantly as she hands it over.

“And when you pickpocket, you shouldn’t bump so hard,” Mitaka says as he takes it.  He passes it to Kylo, who quickly snatches it.  “Bumping is good, but only if everyone else is bumping.  You have to make your actions excusable.  I didn’t feel small fingers on my belt, right where my money is.  I’m just being paranoid.”  Mitaka reaches under his cloak and draws out a pouch.  When he opens it, Kylo can see a small stack of credits. 

The little girl gasps and reaches for it.  Then, remembering herself, she leans back, scowling. 

Mitaka only snorts and holds out the bag to her.  “If you’re anything like I was, you have friends.  Feed them, too?”

The girl furrows her eyebrows.  “Are you from Osorio, too?  I would remember someone with antlers.” 

Mitaka laughs and shakes his head.  “No.  I come from far away.  From the stars, from a planet called Aetheria.  But when I was young, I didn’t have my antlers yet.  I was like you.”

“No one’s like me.”

Mitaka raises an eyebrow.  “A lot of people are like you, child.  And a lot of us rose to become something greater than ourselves.”  Mitaka pauses, reaches into his cloak again to bring out the same curved kyber knife Kylo saw earlier.  With his other hand, he picks up the girl’s dull kitchen knife.  “It wasn’t too long ago I wielded a blade like yours.  And look at mine now.”

The girl looks at Mitaka’s kyber knife with her eyes wide.  Kylo knows the girl doesn’t know that it’s kyber.  She only thinks of how it shines like the Hutt’s gold palace.  Pretty.

Mitaka rubs the girl’s knife off on his cloak.  He blows a breath on the metal blade and then offers it to her.  “Good luck, little fawn.  I hope that money helps you.”

The girl takes her knife back and tucks it into her belt.  She does the same with the bag of credits.

Mitaka tilts his head down, baring his antlers to the girl. 

The girl smiles, just barely, and reaches out to touch one of the antler prongs, not caring for the blood covering it.  After one final look towards Kylo, one as neutral as any First Order officer, she turns and scurries away, rounding a corner to disappear.

With a sigh, Mitaka stands. 

Kylo doesn’t look at him when he asks, “Why did you do that?”

Mitaka doesn’t look back when he answers.  “The First Order wants to be one entity.  A machine full of so many little gears, all uniform and all the same.  But the First Order can never be that because so many of us were that little girl.”  Mitaka pauses, sniffs.  “I was her, a long, long time ago.”

Kylo looks to him with a furrowed look.  “Really?”

“Yes,” Mitaka says.  “Why do you think I succeed at lying and swindling and thieving?  Why am I a personal lieutenant?  Why does Hux keep me close?”  At Kylo’s silence, he continues.  “If I may offer you some advice, Supreme Leader…”

There’s awkward silence before Kylo realizes he should answer.  “You may.”

Mitaka tilts his head.  Kylo wonders how heavy the antlers are, if they pull his gaze down.  “I know you wonder why Hux commands our respect.  Why we hold him in such high esteem.”  Mitaka pauses then before continuing.  “It’s because he recognizes that the First Order is a group of people of many cultures, all here because we want to eat.  We want to sleep.  We want to live without the fear of being torn apart by beasts or from being exploited by the New Republic, so they can feel better about themselves, throwing the Unknown Regions a bone when we need a meal.  Hux understands our natures because he came from us.  He was one of us, struggling to survive in the dirt on some forgotten planet.  On a failing planet.”  Mitaka touches one of his antlers.  “On a planet brought to ruin by the New Republic.”

“It’s hard to see that diversity,” Kylo says.  “When you all act the same.”

Mitaka can’t hold back a snicker.  “Look closer, Supreme Leader.  Gaze upon the pettiest of officers and you will see a storm.”

Mitaka’s snicker reminds Kylo of something in their shared past.  “Mitaka?” Kylo asks.

Mitaka looks at Kylo with surprise, to hear his name from him.  “Yes?”

“Why aren’t you afraid of me?” Kylo asks, thinking back to the officer shaking in front of him as he delivered news about the Resistance droid.  “Why isn’t Hux afraid of me?”  Kylo thinks to choking Hux, throwing him against a wall.  Hux never did bring it up.  “Why do you…you officers…react to nothing?”

“I don’t react to nothing,” Mitaka says, turning to Kylo.  He holds the kyber knife in one hand.  “I _was_ afraid of you.  Might be still, behind all this.”  Mitaka gestures at himself.  “I stood outside that room for a long time before I found the courage to walk inside.”

“Then why don’t you fear me now?”

Mitaka looks down and smiles to himself.  “My mother always did say my antlers made me brave,” he says.  He looks up at Kylo again, expression serious.  “But in reality, I’ve just learned to move on.  Get over it.  That wasn’t the first time someone’s wanted to hurt me.  Not the first time I’ve _been_ hurt.  I’ve lived this alley life, you know.  I survived the Academy, too.  Top of my class.”

“And Hux?”

“I told you,” Mitaka says.  “We respect him for a reason.  He’s strong, in ways that you can’t see unless you look closer into the storm.”

Somehow, Kylo understands Mitaka’s words.  Hux’s bravery in allowing himself to be captured and not know what will happen to him.  That takes strength.  That takes courage.  Kylo could just leave, kill his lieutenant and be gone, happy that his rival is now out of the picture. 

Hux may say that he’s doing this to be Grand Marshal, but Kylo knows how much he cares for the First Order.  How he’s spent his life building it.  He will do anything to save it.  Even if it means endangering his own life. 

Kylo tries to project a Force image to Hux’s side.  Again, he hits a block. 

Kylo curses himself, for the number of times he wished Hux would disappear in the past.  Now, by his own hand, Kylo has sent Hux far away, to a place unreachable.


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

 It has been a long while since Kylo has seen the stars on any planet.  Longer that he’s seen the stars as clearly as this.  The pollution, so choking during the day, has cleared away with the end of the factory shifts.  The city gives off no light, too poor and dilapidated to have artificial light in the night, but the Hutt’s palace acts like a miniature sun.  The light the building gives off is near blinding. 

As Kylo and Mitaka approach under the cover of night, they’re careful to avoid the spotlights that track the fence surrounding the Hutt’s palace.  Even outside the fence, Kylo can feel the ysalamir energy, cutting him off from the Force.  Again, the loss of sensation, like a limb missing, makes Kylo jittery.

“She’s increased her security,” Mitaka says.  For some reason, even though he and Kylo returned to the shuttle after Mitaka gave his money to that little girl, he hasn’t ditched the antlers.  He had removed Hux’s dog tags, but not the antlers.  Nor the cloak, but that was a good idea, since Kylo stands shivering in the cold in his leather jacket and pants.

Still, Kylo is thankful that he ditched the wooden mask.  Even if it just covered his eyes, it reminded him of the helmet he destroyed just a couple days ago.

“Shouldn’t be a problem once we’re inside,” Kylo says.  “She’ll be concerned with people coming in, not people already in.”

“Good point,” Mitaka says.  

They wait in the trees behind the Hutt’s palace.  Kylo had been the one to spot the opening in the fence, just big enough for him to get through.  Mitaka, due to his smaller size, would have no trouble.

 The spotlight passes one more time, illuminating the slightly larger divide in the fence between two metal posts.  “Let’s go,” Kylo says, running forward.  Mitaka follows behind him, silent over the manicured grass. 

Kylo slips in between the posts, getting his chest stuck slightly, before pulling himself through.  Mitaka follows, easily slipping in between the posts.  He yanks his cloak with him, managing to get the fabric through right as the spotlight passes by again.

Kylo crouches low to the ground.  Mitaka follows him down.  He points at the wall of the palace, where an old-fashioned door and lock leads in, just as the blueprints led them to believe.

Mitaka runs for the door, and Kylo follows.  The grass crinkles with each of their steps.  Mitaka’s cloak billows out.  Just barely, Kylo can see the curved prongs of each antler.

By the time Kylo makes it to the door, Mitaka is already crouched beside it, examining the lock.  Then, nodding to himself, he reaches under his clock to grab at his arm.  Once he takes his arm back out, Kylo sees he holds five hair pins in a fist.

“Really?” Kylo near hisses.  “Hair pins?”

“Never doubt the utility of a hair pin,” Mitaka says.  He sticks two of them in the lock and wiggles them around.

Immediately, one breaks.  Mitaka swears nastily at the sound.

Kylo doesn’t say a word.  He lets the silence speak for itself.

Mitaka continues to pick and prod at the lock.  When he gasps, Kylo thinks he has it, but Mitaka was wrong.  The door doesn’t give.

“Can you really do this?” Kylo asks, drawing out his blaster.  He could always just shoot the lock off.  “We’re wasting our time!”

“Do you know how long it takes to pick locks?” Mitaka hisses.  “I’m out of practice.  Give me a damn minute.”

Kylo nearly pulls rank, surprised at Mitaka’s insubordination, but before he can, Mitaka whoops to himself.  The door has cracked open.  No alarm sounds, just like Hux predicted. 

Thinking of Hux makes Kylo antsy.  “Let’s hurry up,” Kylo says.  He pushes the door open.  “We have to get Hux out of here.”

“I’m aware of that,” Mitaka mutters.  He sticks his hairpins back up his cloak.  Kylo wonders what the hell he has on under there that has that much storage space. 

Kylo and Mitaka creep in, staying low to the ground.  The blueprints Hux had were correct; they’ve walked right into the kitchens.  All around them are gleaming appliances.  A bowl of fruit sits on a countertop. 

“Please be quiet,” Mitaka barely whispers.  “I don’t know how the Hutt does it, but servants and slaves usually sleep in the kitchens.  I’ve tripped over them in the past, as a child.”

Kylo nods, following Mitaka’s lead.  Stealth had never been his forte, after all.

Luckily, Kylo and Mitaka stumble across no people sleeping in the kitchen.  Not even an animal.  Everything is quiet.  There is no sound except for Kylo’s shallow breaths.

Mitaka makes it to the door first.  He consults the door panel before opening the manual override slot with a yank.  Immediately he types in a code.  The door beeps an affirmative and slides open, revealing a long, dark hallway reaching far into the palace.

“How did you know the code?” Kylo asks.

“Hux told me,” Mitaka responds.  “The Order has been spying on this Hutt for a while.  She rarely changes the passcodes in her private quarters.  Forgetful.  Lazy, too.”

The rest of the palace follows similarly.  Kylo and Mitaka inch through, like wary dogs in unfamiliar territory, Mitaka opening doors when they are locked and Kylo watching his back as he does so.  Judging by the Hutt’s blueprints, Hux should be kept in a private room set up for particularly important bounties.  Kylo and Mitaka are headed there now.

Once they reach the final door, Mitaka holds up a hand, stopping Kylo, who wanted to kick it open.  “Wait.  She could have traps.  Keeping Hux in.”  Mitaka glance at Kylo.  “Keeping others who want him out.”

Kylo nods.

Mitaka reaches into his cloak and pulls out that curved kyber knife.  Even in the darkness of the palace hallway, the kyber still glitters.  Again, Kylo is drawn to it, a moth to a flame.

Mitaka flips it in his hand, adjusting his hold.  Then, as casually as he could, he throws it to hit the wall.  The blade thunks on the impact and slides down to thump against the floor.

Kylo gapes at the treatment of the treasured kyber.  He looks to Mitaka incredulously.  “Really?”

“Kyber is an excellent conductor,” Mitaka says.  He picks up the knife.  “It’s why the Death Stars loved it so much.  But so am I, so…” He mimes throwing the knife at the door again.  “It’s not like I could hold the knife and touch the door.”

“Well, the damn door’s not electrocuted, right?” Kylo asks.

Mitaka shakes his head.  “No.  Hux should be on the other side.”

“Thank the Force,” Kylo growls.  He doesn’t even wait for Mitaka to take out his fucking hair pins.  Instead, he draws his blaster, remembers to silence it and shoots the door with a practiced hand.  Mitaka jumps at the bright flash of a blaster and opens his mouth to object, but Kylo isn’t listening.  He barges into the room. 

“Hux?” Kylo asks, looking around the sparse room.  He walks over to the bed and rips off the covers to reveal…

No one.

Just a lump of blankets.

Mitaka walks in with the timidity of a deer.  “Hux?” he calls out, softly.

“Hux!” Kylo yells.  He goes over to the fresher and slides open the door.  No Hux. 

“Fuck,” Kylo hisses to himself.  “ _Fuck_!”

Mitaka too is looking a bit panicked.  “He’s not here.”

“Obviously not, dumbass,” Kylo says meanly.  “Dammit all to hell.”

“It’s too soon,” Mitaka mutters.  “And we would have heard news of a government receiving the general.”

“He has to still be here,” Kylo says.  “He _has_ to be.”

Mitaka walks over to Hux’s bed.  “He’s slept here.  Or at least napped.”  Then, Mitaka walks over to the dresser and opens it.

Whatever he finds in there makes him pause.  “Um, sir?” Mitaka says.

“What?” Kylo snarls, pacing around the room like he’s the caged animal, like he was the one turned in for a bounty.  Force, how could he have been so _stupid_ , letting his best general go.  The First Order will surely fall without Hux’s influence.  Kylo will surely fall.

“His clothes are in here,” Mitaka says.  “His…uniform.”

Kylo walks over and leans over Mitaka to look in.  Just like Mitaka said, Hux’s uniform sits, perfectly folded.  Stacked atop each other in a pile. 

Suddenly, Kylo knows where Hux is.  He nearly slaps a hand to his forehead at the realization.  Of course.

There’s good reason why Hux is the High Command officer of choice, in propaganda. 

“Supreme Leader, if I may offer a suggestion,” Mitaka says.  “My mother, on mission to infiltrate a Hutt’s court, was forced into a…certain outfit.”

“Your mother too,” Kylo mutters.

“She never ended up killing the Hutt bastard, though goddess knows she wanted to…” Mitaka says.  He runs a hand over Hux’s uniform.  Again, Kylo sees flashes of that antler gauntlet, twisting around Mitaka’s thin wrist.  “Where are the Hutt’s quarters?”

“Just around the corner, I think.”

Mitaka sighs to himself.  “Shit.  I completely forgot that Hutts do this.”

Kylo sighs and lowers his head.

Hux is going to be fucking _pissed_.

 

* * *

 

“Have you ever been yelled at by Hux?” Kylo asks in a whisper.  “Like, _really_ yelled at?”

“Oh, plenty,” Mitaka says.  “And each time, I forget how truly terrifying he can be.”

Kylo feels a bit better about being nervous about Hux’s reaction if the person wearing the kyber knives and the blood-stained antlers is apprehensive about it.  Still, though, Kylo isn’t looking forward to the absolute _wrath_ that will be General Hux when he and Mitaka find him.

This plan is truly falling into the shithole.

Kylo voices this thought.  Mitaka only snickers, then says, “Yeah, we’re right fucked.”

Finally, Kylo and Mitaka round the final corner.  In front of them is the most magnificent door they’ve seen thus far.  Mitaka hurries forward to unlock it.

The door swishes open to reveal Nahai the Hutt, fast asleep with her head back and her tongue lolling.  In her hand is a thin gold chain.

Kylo follows the chain downward to see a humanoid figure kneeling by her feet, curled up against the Hutt’s plush bed.  At the sight of red hair, a smile overtakes Kylo’s face and he hurries in.  Mitaka is soon to follow. 

Kylo barely hears the door swish close as he sinks to his knees in front of Hux.  He reaches out a hand and taps Hux on the shoulder.  “Hux,” he whispers.  “Hux.”

Hux’s eyes squint and his limbs jerk.  Then, Hux opens his eyes, blearily blinking back to awareness. 

Kylo raises his hand from Hux’s shoulder to cup his face.  “Hux,” he says.  He shakes Hux’s head slightly.  “Hux, wake up.  I’m here.  I’m here to rescue you.”

“Ren?” Hux mutters.  He focuses his hazy eyes on Kylo’s face.

At seeing Kylo, Hux’s eyes fly open. 

“Hux?” Kylo asks softly, like talking to a wild animal, skittish in a forest.

“Kylo Ren, I am going to kill you.”

“What?”

Hux’s lip rises in a snarl.  “Ren, I am going to rip your throat out with my _teeth_.”

“Hux, what the hell?”

“And let your _blood_ _run_ _dry_.”

Thankfully, Mitaka hurries forward.  “Sir, we have to be quiet,” he says, pointing up at the still slumbering Hutt.  “Let’s break that chain and get out of here.”

“Yes, let’s get _out_ of here, lieutenant,” Hux snarls.  “Thank you _so_ much for waiting around for nearly ten hours before getting me.  What the hell were you even doing?”

Mitaka blinks.  “Waiting for the cover of dark, sir.  Now, let’s hurry.”  He reaches under his cloak and draws out one of his kyber knives.  He steps on the gold chain with a booted foot and immediately starts hacking at the thin chain.  With barely any effort, the chain snaps. 

Hux immediately stands over Kylo, who falls back onto his ass at the force of Hux’s anger.

And what Hux is wearing.  Or not.

The Hutt’s love for gold extends to her possessions, too.  Hux is covered in a fine dusting of gold, from his hair to his chest to the softness of his stomach.  The gold is broken by the shortest skirt necessary to cover up the necessary bits, that too in gold.  The gold dusting continues downward, to cover Hux’s soft thighs and calves and even the tops of his feet. 

Hux’s hair has been left alone, to hang loosely around his face, making him look years younger, even with the scowl on his face.  His eyes are painted black, gold accenting the tips of the eyeliner brush strokes.  Kylo, funnily enough, notices Hux’s eyebrows have been styled, penciled in to account for any imperfections. 

The collar around Hux’s neck is wrought in gold.  The broken chain hands low, to brush against a nipple and make it peak. 

Kylo is suddenly both very afraid and very turned on.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kylo sees Mitaka undo his belt.  Then, he sees him shrug his cloak off, holding it in his arms.  Even in the darkness of the Hutt’s room, Kylo can see that Mitaka isn’t wearing something First Order regulation underneath.  Kylo can see the heavy fabric of a skirt, the opposite of Hux’s own, that’s cut around the thighs to maximize movement.  The skirt immediately turns into some kind of armor, made out of leather that wraps around Mitaka’s torso.  This leather turns into a flattened arrangement of what have to be antlers at Mitaka’s upper chest.  The crisscross in a random pattern up to Mitaka’s collarbones.

Mitaka interrupts Hux before he can rampage.  “Sir, we need to go.  Before the Hutt wakes up.”  He hands Hux his cloak.

“She won’t wake up,” Hux snarls, pulling it on, then tightening the belt.  “I should know since I served every damn one of her drinks tonight.  Do you know how many people saw me, Ren?  Saw me all dolled up and looking anything like a First Order general?”

“Hux, _please_ ,” Mitaka near begs.

That makes Hux pause.  He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.  “Fine.  Let’s go.”  Hux looks down at Mitaka’s kyber knife, still in his hand.  The other is hilted on his hip, the blade angled to point backward.  “But I want to slaughter the foul creature.”

“Hux, you said we can’t compromise our political alliances,” Mitaka says.  “Killing Nahai would surely cause a political situation the First Order doesn’t need.”

Hux scowls at Mitaka.  Surprisingly, Mitaka scowls back, titling his head up and antlers back to meet Hux’s eyes.  Kylo, wanting to not have Hux’s wrath upon him again, stays out of the way.

“Fine,” Hux bites.  “Damn you for being right, Mitaka.”  He steps over Kylo, near flashing him.  “Let’s go, Ren.”

Kylo clears his throat and wills his dick to calm.  “Yes.  We’re going.”  He gets up and looks to the slumbering Hutt, still clenching Hux’s chain in her fist.

“Thank you for the credits, my lady,” Kylo says with a bow, like he saw Mitaka do.  Then, he turns and follows Hux and Mitaka out.

 

* * *

 

Kylo, Hux and Mitaka walk quietly through the Hutt’s halls, making their way back to the kitchen for their escape.  Kylo sees that Mitaka’s curved knives were still held firmly in his hands, so he draws his blaster as well, keeping it close to his chest.  Hux, without a weapon, only keeps a firm hand on his cloak to keep it closed over his chest.  Even in the dim light, far brighter than the room they found Hux in, the gold powder on Hux’s face glimmers.

Kylo finds himself sticking close to Hux, letting Mitaka lead the way out.  Behind him, Kylo can see that the antler detailing covering Mitaka’s upper chest and collarbones extends to his shoulders.  Around his arm is a red ribbon, tied around a scar that slices down Mitaka’s bicep.  His antlers curve upwards in the dull light.  That’s where Mitaka kept his hair pins too; Kylo can see a couple slid into the ribbon.

“How much longer?” Hux hisses.

“Not too far,” Mitaka whispers back. 

They round the last hallway.  Kylo can see the door to the kitchen, closed in front of them. 

Kylo hears Hux breathing next to him.  Quickly, shallowly.  With the Force, Kylo could hear a heartbeat, could know what Hux is thinking.   Sense his anticipation or his fear.  See what he really thinks as they creep down the hallway.

Suddenly, Mitaka stops.  He holds up a hand, flashing that antler gauntlet once more to Kylo.  He tilts his head.  Kylo can barely see the profile of his antlered head, titled to the side like a dog with its ear perked up. 

Mitaka flips the grip on his curved knife.  He opens his mouth to say something, turning to Kylo and Hux with a fear in his eyes Kylo hasn’t seen since when he reported to him on the droid.

With a burst of light, the hallway turns red. 

Then, immediately, sirens.

Even through the blaring tone, Kylo can hear the footsteps of a multitude of people running towards them, just around the corner. 

Hux acts first, pushing them forward.  “Go, go, go!” he near yells.  He grabs at one of Mitaka’s antlers, yanking him when he stays frozen, staring wide-eyed down the hallway where so many people are running.  “Let’s go!” Hux yells.

Near unwilling, Mitaka allows himself to be pulled by the antler and follows as they run down the hallway.  Hux gets to the door first, unlocks it with barely a thought.

They run in, and the door hisses behind them.  Mitaka acts first.  He looks to the side, wide-eyed, and spots a row of kitchen knives.  With a strange fluidity, Mitaka replaces his curved knives at his hips, grabs a kitchen knife, near flips it in his hand and slams it through the electronic lock.  The device sparks before going black with a hiss.  The knife blade had punctured so far that when Mitaka lets go of the knife, it remains in the wall, fully slotted in its new sheath.

The sirens here are dimmer, yet still loud.  The redness casts everyone in shades of blood.  Whatever blood that remained on Mitaka’s antlers has been restored by the red light.  Hux’s face, too, is cast in bloody red. 

Hux is the first to look to the door outside, the first to hear alien voices shouting outside it.  “We need to block that,” he says, rushing to it.  Kylo notices for the first time that Hux is still barefoot, his pale ankles showing since Mitaka’s cloak only reaches just below Hux’s knees.  Hux looks at the mechanical lock before looking to the table just beside it.  The table is made out of real wood, its legs thick, obviously heavy.

“Ren,” Hux says.  After Kylo looks Hux’s face, Hux gestures to the table.  “Help me move this.”

Kylo nods and runs over.  Together, he and Hux push at one side of the table to slide it in front of the door.  Hux’s teeth are bared as he pushes with a shoulder into the table.  Kylo can see his biceps flexing, still adorned in gold, as he pushes alongside him.

Together, Kylo and Hux move the table in front of the door, just as the people outside get it open and start banging against the wood.  The table holds steady; Kylo knows that the Hutt’s forces won’t come in from the outside.

Unfortunately, that means that they’re trapped here, in the kitchen, until the people from the hallway break through the door locked with a knife through the lock.

Now, outside door sealed, Hux makes his way to the same knife block where Mitaka drew a knife to break the electronic door lock.  Hux draws one, short but very sharp, and holds it tight. 

Kylo looks away from the outside door and walks back to the center of the kitchen where Mitaka stands, knives in his hands, staring at where Hux stands by the knife block, by the door that bangs and shudders as the Hutt’s forces try to break it down.

“How long will the door hold?” Kylo asks as Hux approaches them, cloak billowing. 

Hux looks behind him.  From this angle, Kylo can see the curve of his throat, the paleness, not usually revealed in uniform.

Hux looks back to them.  “Can you feel the Force?” he asks Kylo.

Kylo shakes his head.  “The ysalamiri.  They must be everywhere, in this place.  The closer I get, the less I can feel the Force.”

“Even just to shove them back?” Hux asks.

Kylo shakes his head.

Ysalamiri are powerful creatures.  Rare, especially now.  In great numbers, they can cripple a Force user, even one as powerful as Kylo.

Kylo wasn’t expecting the Hutt to have this many.  He’s powerless, here.

“Fuck,” Hux says, clutching his head now. 

“She was obviously expecting something,” Kylo says.

“She knew,” Hux says.  “She knew right when you walked in.  Our story was too outrageous.  They’ve studied me.  Not even at the height of my power would I walk a port with such few guards, with such bravado.”

“What now?”  Kylo looks around the kitchen, at the sleek appliances all around him.  He looks at the ceiling.  There’s a vent, just above.  He points to it.  “We can escape through the vent.”

“No,” Mitaka says, softly.  “You can die in vents.  I’ve had friends who’ve died trying to escape in them.”  He walks to the wall, traces the edges of the durasteel plating.  “There’s always a way out,” Mitaka says, talking to himself.  He traces along a line barely visible to Kylo, but there, connecting two plates together. 

Then, Mitaka stops and lays both hands on a panel.  He pushes against it.

The panel suddenly gives, folding upwards to reveal a hole in the wall.  Kylo and Hux run to the hole and peer into it.  Kylo can see a ramp slanting downwards, metallic silver, leading to some darkness that Kylo can’t see.

“What the hell’s this?” Hux asks.

Mitaka shrugs.  “Garbage disposal.  Secret escape passage.  Could be anything.”

“Could be our deaths.”

“No,” Kylo says.  “The Hutt wouldn’t have a death passage in a kitchen.”  He looks to the door to the hallway, still shuddering, now with blaster bolts.  “They’re trying to shatter the hinges,” Kylo says.  “We need to go.”

Hux still doesn’t look pleased, looks increasingly wary.  Even without the Force, Kylo can tell he doesn’t trust this secret passage in the kitchen wall in some Hutt’s palace. 

“I’ll go first,” Kylo declares.  “I’ll yell up if it’s safe.”

Hux looks surprised at Kylo’s statement.  So too does Mitaka. 

That only makes Kylo want to throw himself headfirst into the passage.  With a nod to both of them, he climbs into the passage, feet first, and pushes himself through. 

The ride down is quick, like a slide that a young Ben Solo would have enjoyed.  It doesn’t twist at all, instead going straight down.  Soon, Kylo is spit out at the end, into a pile of hay that immediately tickles at his nose and scratches at his exposed skin. 

Kylo spits out one of the flaky pieces of straw and rolls out of the pile.  He looks around at the area he’s slid into, but there’s not much to see.  Besides the red light from the kitchen, barely visible from the escape slide, the entire area is dark.  Kylo knows he’s outside though, for he can hear the equivalent of crickets chirping in the distance, from the far distant woods where they landed the shuttle.  He feels the cold breeze against his skin.  And above him: stars, twinkling, casting down light that Kylo can’t see in quite yet, for his eyes have yet to adjust from the red light from the kitchens.

And Kylo might be imagining it, might be paranoid, but the ysalamiri feel even more oppressive here, like they’re surrounding him with their energy.  Kylo shakes his head and stands, brushing off his clothes once he does.

Kylo’s just about to yell up at Hux and Mitaka, that all that’s down here is a bunch of straw and a way out of the Hutt’s palace, when, even from this distance away, he hears the bang of a door being blown off its hinges and voices, in all kinds of languages, shouting. 

Kylo is reaching for the Force before he remembers it’s gone from him, taken from a reptile barely more intelligent than a rock.  The Force isn’t with him here; it can’t help him.  Kylo draws his blaster, though there’s no one near to fire at.

“Hux!” Kylo shouts, nearly screams.  He paces under the escape slide, pacing like a big cat in its cage, ready to fight, but trapped by a prison of metal walls and bars.  “ _Hux_!”

The scuffling upstairs continues.  Kylo can hear blaster firing ricocheting off the kitchen walls, clear and crisp as they bounce off durasteel.  The voices are near deafening as they shout and scream at each other.  Kylo hears a particularly guttural scream, like one of an animal with his hind legs broken in a trap. 

And Kylo can only pace, trapped below, waiting for them to escape.

Soon, though, the screams and shouts of battle stop.  Kylo can only hear his gasping breaths, his own beating heart. 

Then, Kylo hears someone sliding down the passage.  He primes his blaster.  He could fight off the remaining guards, get back to the kitchen somehow and get Hux and Mitaka out of here by himself.  Even without the Force, Kylo is a force to be feared.

But instead of a Huttese guard, what slides down is Hux, landing in the straw with a groan.  Kylo sees that the cloak around him has been sliced in places, revealing small burns and cuts that dot Hux’s exposed arms and back.

Kylo is running to Hux without a thought.  He grabs at Hux’s arms, turning him over.  But Hux is already pushing him off, sitting up on his own volition.  Kylo can see blood smeared onto Hux’s face and neck, erasing the gold from the powder, leaving behind a combination of colors, from red to blue to green.

“Hux,” Kylo asks.  He’s still holding onto Hux’s arms, though gently, wary of the injuries there.  “Are you all right?”

“It’s not all mine,” Hux says.  He stands up, though nearly falls, even with Kylo helping him up.  Kylo can see a nasty burn on one of Hux’s legs, exposed now that the black cloak hangs open to reveal Hux’s front.  Somehow, the gold skirt survived the skirmish.

Kylo looks upwards, at Hux’s face, to see if he can see injury through the blood smeared there, but Hux isn’t looking back at Kylo.  He’s looking behind Kylo, upwards, at something even taller than Kylo.  His eyes are wide.  His mouth gapes. 

Kylo almost doesn’t want to turn around, but he does anyway, to see what Hux sees.

Soon, his expression matches Hux.

For the beast behind him is like nothing Kylo has ever seen.

Kylo has seen deer before, but the deer in front of him is massive.  Its withers are far taller than Kylo’s own height and thick with muscle.  Kylo can see the bulking muscles of the deer’s chest, expanding with each deep inhale from the beast’s lungs.  The muscles of its shoulders are even larger. 

Soon, Kylo sees why the beast’s muscles are so big, why its shoulders, front legs and withers are thick with tendons and ligaments, for atop the deer’s head is a rack of antlers in glittering, multi-colored crystal, reflecting the meek starlight in the sky above to cast light upon Kylo and Hux. 

No, not crystal, for Kylo has seen this before, in his lightsaber.

Kyber.

The deer paws at the rough dirt with one of its hooves.  It shakes his head with a snuffle of its large nose, nostrils flaring.  Kylo looks into the beast’s eyes and sees one emotion: fear.

Kylo steps in front of Hux without a second thought.

He holds out a hand in front of the beast, now stomping both of its hooves into the dirt.  The noise echoes against the walls that Kylo and Hux are backed up against. 

With the deer’s bellowing, Kylo hears a new sound, surrounding the beast’s pen.  A collective hiss, like what Kylo heard in the Hutt’s entry room, where she held court.

The ysalamiri.  They encircle the pen here, too, atop the fenceposts of this enclosure.

Kylo looks at the deer’s antlers again.  Kyber.  Ysalamiri. 

But before Kylo can think more about the Force presence here, he hears a rumble from the escape slide next to them.  As Kylo turns to look, he thinks of his blaster, but before he can act on the thought, a figure slides to land in a heap in the straw.  It’s Mitaka.

Even from this angle, Kylo can see that Mitaka didn’t escape the skirmish unscathed.  One of his antlers has snapped, leaving a stump behind.  Mitaka pushes himself up to stand, shaking his head.  Like Hux, he’s near covered in blood, though unlike Hux, Kylo thinks more of it belongs to Mitaka himself.  The uniform he wears, for Kylo can’t consider it anything but a uniform, is torn in places, the antler boning protecting the collarbones fractured.  The red ribbon tied around Mitaka’s arm is gone, revealing a pale scar that slices its way down Mitaka’s bicep.

The kyber knives, sheathed at Mitaka’s hips, drip with blood.  Yet even through the blood, Kylo can see the red and blue kyber beneath.

Kylo looks back at the deer, now frozen in front of him, now staring down Mitaka, who has somehow not yet seen the beast in front of him. 

In the starlight, the deer’s kyber antlers glitter.  They glitter like Mitaka’s knives glitter on his hips, now exposed to the open sky.

Finally, Mitaka notices how Kylo and Hux stand, how they keep glancing far above them.  He too looks upward.  Kylo can see part of the tip of Mitaka’s ear is near shot off, the remaining curve seared by blaster fire.

Mitaka holds up a bloodied hand, antler gauntlet now nearly shattered.  His expression is reverent, what Kylo must have had when he used the Force for the first place, lifting a rock with barely a thought.

“Great Aetheria,” Mitaka says, staring up at the deer before him.

When Mitaka takes a step forward, the deer stomps a hoof.  Tosses its head, bellowing.  The ysalamiri hiss again.  Kylo’s head pricks with the onslaught of their Force energy.

Mitaka shrinks into himself, lowering his shoulders, ducking his head.  His hand, however, remains upwards, towards the great beast.

“ _You don’t know me,”_ Mitaka says.  Kylo doesn’t at first realize that Mitaka speaks another language, one that lisps and rolls in its syllables, but he is.  The Force has at least granted him this power still: the power to understand language from mere intent.  “ _And I don’t know you_.”

The deer gives no indication of Mitaka speaking, and why would it?  Kylo can see no intelligence in this beast, not like in other Force sensitive animals, where Kylo can communicate with them through his mind.  Great cats.  Wolves.

But never deer.

The deer rears up this time, rising up fully on its back legs, before slamming its front hooves down on the ground.  The ysalamiri scratch at their cages.  Kylo would too, for the Force suppression energy in this pen is nothing short of agonizing.  Instead, Kylo winces.

“ _But I should have known you were here_ ,” Mitaka continues.  His voice is choked, like he’s holding back a maelstrom of emotions with sheer force of will.  “ _Should have realized as I donned my armor, my antlers, that I was doing so for a reason_.”

Kylo makes to say something, but someone grabs his wrist.  He looks behind him.

Hux.  Standing there, eyes bright.  He shakes his head at Kylo, bidding him to stay silent.

Kylo obeys.

Mitaka takes another step forward.  He looks upward, like he’s about to make eye contact with the beast.  But then, before Mitaka can, the deer reacts, snorting wildly, tossing its head randomly, rearing up as high as it can before slamming back down.

All around Kylo, the ysalamiri nearly yowl.  Kylo nearly collapses with their energy.

Mitaka ducks his head further at the beast’s reaction.  Kylo sees his eyes are pinched closed, sees a tear release from one, outside his control.

Mitaka waits a long time before raising his head.  His eyes are still on the ground.  Kylo thinks the antlers, even with one broken to a stump, must feel heavier now, at these stakes.

“ _I understand your pain_ ,” Mitaka says.  He takes another step forward, and his left leg nearly buckles, but Mitaka grabs it before it can.  “ _I have felt it, too_.”

The deer walks backward, shaking its antlered head.  The ysalamiri hiss.

Behind him, Kylo hears voices echoing out of the passageway.  Yelling over each other in an abundance of languages that Kylo can’t translate.  There are too many of them.

Kylo glances up at the open passageway, then to Hux.  Wordless, he grabs Hux’s wrist and pushes him back, back towards the opposite wall from the secret passageway.  At this position, Kylo can see the profile of Mitaka’s face, can see the remaining antler curl upwards to the ceiling.  Can watch as Mitaka takes another step forward, speaking to the frightened animal in that same lisping language.

But whatever Mitaka says fails to soothe the beast.  It only backs up into its pen, scared, rearing up to bellow at the sky, to look around its pen, searching for an escape.

Mitaka stops, still a distance away from the beast.  “ _I know you have seen me_ ,” he says, looking upwards to finally meet the beast’s eyes.  “ _Not in your life, not in mine, but in one of times past, a long, long time ago_.”

Mitaka grabs his two kyber blades and draws them from his hips.  “ _I have never seen the great plateaus on Aetheria_ ,” Mitaka says, stepping forward.  His eyes are raised to the frightened deer before him.  “ _I’ve never breathed its air or drank from its waterfalls.  I’ve never heard the cries of its falcons or heard the growls of its wolves_.”  Mitaka pauses, before saying even louder, “ _I have never seen it because I was taken from its soils, before I could be born, and forced to enter this world anew in the belly of a metallic beast_.”  He shakes his head.  “ _I have never seen Aetheria, not with these eyes, not as the person I am today_.

“ _But my mother has seen Aetheria_ ,” Mitaka says, voice cracking.  “ _My mother’s mother has.  I have seen Aetheria through the eyes of my mothers, Great Aetheria_.    

“ _And so have_ you,” Mitaka says, voice cracking.  “ _Look back into your memories.  Remember the Matriarch who came before you.  Your mothers and my mothers come from the_ _same soil, from the same sky_.”  Mitaka pauses.  “ _The same Mother has given us life.  See that, in me, through the ysalamiri, Great Aetheria.  Know that I am with you, in this life and the next_.”

At the end of Mitaka’s speech, the deer, at first, does nothing.  Then, out of no reason that Kylo can detect, the deer leans back, straightening its front legs, and bows its antlered head, identically to how Mitaka bowed to the Hutt, how he bowed to the little girl who stole from him.

Kylo sees Mitaka’s face sink into relief, watches as more tears slip down his cheeks, as he too bows his antlered head to the deer before him.

Immediately afterwards, Mitaka comes out of his bow and rushes the deer.  Kylo is about to call his name, to urge him away, when Mitaka near slams into the deer’s front leg, wrapping his arms around it.  The deer only lifts its head to sniff at the blood atop Mitaka’s head.  Soon, Kylo can see the deer lick the blood before snorting at the foul taste.

The clamor behind Kylo urges him forward.  He grabs Hux’s hand and pulls him to where Mitaka and the deer stand.  The deer gives no attention to Kylo and Hux; its attention is now at the single antler curling upwards from Mitaka’s forehead.  The deer only bumps its snout against one of the bloodied prongs, now aware of how foul blood tastes.

Hux pulls his hand from Kylo’s to run ahead of him.  “Mitaka,” he says.  “We need to go.”

Mitaka turns his face to look at his general.  He’s rubbed blood off the deer’s leg, so much so that his face is near clear of blood.  Mitaka looks behind them, at the source of the noise, fast approaching them.  “Yes,” he says, now in Basic rather than whatever he was speaking before.  His voice is still rather hoarse.  “And she will take us.”

Hux blinks.  “What?”

Mitaka nods.  “Yes.  On Aetheria, we would ride the kyber deer.  In battle.”  He pats the deer’s leg.  “This one has probably never seen battle, and neither have I, like this.  But it’s in her memories.  She’ll know what to do.”

Then, Mitaka turns back to the deer and grabs its snout with a hand.  He pulls the deer towards him, so that he can put his forehead against the deer’s own.  Their antlers clash together, Mitaka’s single one tiny compared to the kyber the deer sports.

Mitaka closes his eyes.

The deer closes its own.

Then, through the ysalamiri, Kylo feels a great gust, like wind blowing, a presence he has not felt since he entered the Hutt’s palace. 

Mitaka breaks away from the deer with a gasp.  He shakes his head before saying, “She will take us.  She knows what to do, now that we’re here with her.”

Kylo looks to Hux in disbelief of the situation, but Hux is only nodding.  He approaches the animal.  Like reading his mind, the deer folds its legs to kneel on the ground, looking at Mitaka expectantly.

“Right,” Mitaka says.  “I should…probably mount first, just to be safe.”

Hux nods, like this would be obvious.  “Of course.”

No one has explained anything to Kylo, and Kylo isn’t expecting anyone to, least of all the damn deer. 

Mitaka grabs some of its hide and mounts the animal.  He offers a hand to Hux, and Hux takes it, hoisting himself to straddle the beast behind Mitaka.

“Ren,” Hux says, offering a hand.

Kylo looks at the animal with wariness.  The deer flicks an ear, like beckoning him forward.

Behind him, Kylo hears excited shouting.  He hears the Hutt’s guards banging on the walls.  Even without the Force, Kylo knows they’re close to finding the secret passageway.  They’re close to discovering where their bounty has disappeared to.

Kylo glances at the animal, distrust heavy in his gaze.  Then, he accepts Hux’s hand and hoists himself onto the back of the animal, stomach resting on the deer’s bony spine.  With a grunt, Kylo pushes himself up, lifting his right leg to swing over the animal in the process.  Now fully seated, straddling the animal’s thick body, Kylo inches himself closer to Hux.  He rests his hands on the deer’s ribs, feeling them rise and fall with each breath.  

With a huff, Hux grabs Kylo’s hands in his own and wraps it around his own waist.

Kylo swallows heavily before wrapping his fingers solidly around Hux’s waist.  Even through the cloak, his fingers nearly touch each other.  Hux is very warm.  Like the deer, he breathes heavily.  Kylo can feel Hux’s stomach expand with every breath he takes.  He slides his index fingers upwards, so he can feel Hux’s ribs, bony even through the cloak. 

Kylo looks ahead, at the Hutt’s expansive yard that he, Hux and Mitaka had crossed not long ago, earlier that morning when they turned Hux in.  Now, they were escaping with Hux, atop the back of a massive kyber deer.

Behind them, Kylo hears shouting, not from the kitchens, but from the enclosure itself.  He looks behind his shoulder to see the Hutt’s guards running towards them.  Even from this distance, Kylo can see blasters in their hands.  Soon, he sees bursts of red light, soaring to them, missing by a considerable distance, but closing fast. 

Kylo doesn’t know what Mitaka did, but the deer rises up, to stand on its four legs.  The deer then rears, nearly catapulting Kylo off its back, were he not holding onto Hux and were Hux not holding onto Mitaka and were not Mitaka somehow gluing himself to the back of this beast with sheer force of his legs.  Then, the deer surges forward, at a gallop akin to the Twinia on Chandrila, the ones Ben was forced to ride before he determined that he preferred ships, not the backs of beasts. 

Kylo tightens his hold on Hux’s waist.  He cinches his legs tighter around the deer’s barreled body.  In front of him, Kylo can see the kyber antlers undulating with each of the beast’s gallops.  And just ahead, near right in front of him, Kylo can see Mitaka’s sole antler bobbing the same way, up and down with each impact of the deer’s hooves upon the ground.

The wind is rough against Kylo’s face, chilling cold.  Hux’s hair flows free.  Kylo feels like he’s bouncing uncontrollably on the deer’s back, near sliding off with every impact of the deer’s hooves upon the ground.  He presses himself even closer to Hux’s back and holds on.

Soon, the deer approaches the edge of its enclosure.  “Hold on tight,” Kylo hears Mitaka yell, before he sees him tilt forward, lowering his head to the beast’s neck.  Hux follows the movement, so Kylo follows it too, leaning his cheek against Hux’s cloaked back, praying to the Force that they clear the fence with no causalities. 

As they approach the fence, Kylo can hear the hissing ysalamiri so much more clearly, even with the shouts and revving engines of the Hutt’s guards closing in behind them.  Kylo wonders, fearfully, if the ysalamiri could Force them back, could trap them here by just their repressive energies.

But no.  No lizard could stop the strength of this deer’s muscles, bounding towards the fence, pushing off the ground with its strong back legs and soaring over the fence.  Kylo near falls backwards at launch, then forwards as the beast lands upon its front legs.  Soon, the deer equalizes, bringing its back legs down to the ground to push itself forward, back into a sprinting gallop across the yard, towards the glittering gold fences that separate freedom from imprisonment.

Now past the ysalamiri, Kylo feels a sensation akin to water trickling down a dry creek, quenching the dry stone with its moisture.  In front of him, through his hands on his waist, Kylo can feel the sheer elation in Hux’s veins at the escape, his leftover adrenaline from doing battle with the Hutt’s guards with an Aetherian by his side and behind all that, a lingering anxiety, that somehow this escape will be a failure and that he really will lose his life to this Hutt, lose the First Order to a new Supreme Leader who he cannot anticipate, lose what Rae Sloane gave to him as her legacy, to further her goals to the best of his ability. 

Kylo pulls out of Hux’s head with difficulty.  His thoughts were like a tumultuous flood to the dry creek bed in Kylo’s mind, restoring the Force even quicker than Kylo could on his own. 

But Kylo can’t remain in Hux’s mind.

Behind them, the Hutt’s forces are approaching.  And fast.  Somehow, in between Hux and Mitaka decimating her forces and discovering them in the kyber deer’s pen, they’ve obtained speeder bikes that buzz behind the galloping deer.  Behind him, Kylo even sees a New Republic grade patrol ship, shining a spotlight at the ground in front of it.

The spotlight moves, casting the deer in its bright illuminance.  The deer near shrieks at the light, stumbling to a stop, near catapulting Kylo, Hux and Mitaka from their perches. 

Through the cacophony, Kylo hears Mitaka shush the creature, offer it soothing words.  He sees him lay his bare hands on the beast’s neck, sending his thoughts to the Force sensitive animal. 

But the deer will not be calmed.  Through the Force, Kylo can hear its anxiety, its fear.  So similar to a human’s, so similar to what Kylo tasted in the Force when Lieutenant Mitaka approached him on the _Finalizer_ , bearing bad news.

“There are too many thoughts!” Mitaka shouts.  “She’s getting overwhelmed!”  He looks behind himself, at Hux and Kylo where they sit.  “Even without knowing it, you’re in her mind.  Stressing her.  She can’t think with so many people on her.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Hux yells back.  “She just has to make it to the fences, and Kylo will be far enough from the ysalamiri to throw them all back.”

At Hux’s words, Mitaka eyes widen.  He looks over at the approaching army, at the spotlight shuttle just ahead of the Hutt’s forces, casting them in light.  Then, before Kylo can even process it, Mitaka has flipped himself around, so that he straddles the beast backwards.  “No,” Mitaka says.  “If you dismount, I can get her to bring them down.”

“How?”

“She is a _Matriarch_!” Mitaka yells into Hux’s face.  “She knows what to do.  It’s in her blood.”  He gestures at himself.  “It’s in _my_ blood!”  At Hux’s continued silence, Mitaka’s voice turns begging.  He grabs at Hux’s cloak, pulling at the fabric.  “Dismount, Armitage, _please_.  I know what I’m doing.”

Hux nods, slowly but then quickly.  He looks behind him, where Kylo sits.  “Let’s go.”

At Hux’s order, Kylo nods.  He swings his leg over the animal before sliding down.  He uses the Force to slow his descent, so that he touches the ground with barely a sound, crunching the crisp grass below him. 

Hux does the same, sliding down before Kylo has a chance to move.  His impact is hard, and Hux grimaces at the landing.  But when Kylo approaches, offering assistance, Hux only shakes his head.  Then, he draws a blaster from beneath his cloak, an unknown make and model that he must have taken from one of the Hutt’s guards. 

Kylo, too, draws his blaster. 

Beside them and above, Mitaka has both hands on the deer’s neck, eyes closed so hard that he’s squinting.  Finally, the beast settles, though the waves of anxiety it sends off haven’t disappeared.  The Force in the surrounding air is near sickly with this animal’s output. 

Hux stomps through the tall grass, blaster drawn.  Then, he crouches, aiming his tiny blaster towards the approaching army. 

Kylo watches as Mitaka urges the deer forward into a gallop once more.  Then, Kylo looks away and walks towards Hux.  “Does he know what he’s doing?” Kylo asks when he gets close.  In front of them, the speeder bikes only draw closer, the ships’ engines only get louder. 

Hux doesn’t look away from the enemy ahead.  His eyes are hard, fearless, blood smeared across one cheek.  In his hand, the blaster doesn’t shake.  It barely moves at all.  “He knows,” Hux says. 

Kylo is about to crouch too when he feels the ground shake, not from in front of him, but behind him.  He feels something in the Force, making the hair on his arms stand up, akin to waves drawing back before a tsunami, the silence of birdsong before every earthquake, a star, in some distant part of the galaxy, collapsing into itself before erupting in supernova.

The last time Kylo felt something like this had been weeks ago, as a star had given its life to sate the hungry maw of a planet killer. 

Kylo looks behind him, to see the star die. 

Instead, he sees Great Aetheria charging, nearly in slow motion as Kylo draws upon the great Force being exuded by this beast.  With each impact of its hooves, Kylo feels an earthquake in the Force, shaking the ground apart.  With each breath from its thick chest, Kylo inhales too, drawing upon the deer’s power.  Its tan hide glitters like starlight in the spotlight illuminating the deer’s charging body, drowning out the stars in the sky above them.

And all this power, all this Force energy, circulates around the beast’s kyber antlers, undulating with every gallop of its strong legs.  The energy crackles around the kyber, so different to the kyber in Kylo’s lightsaber, unbroken and imbued with life energy, taken from this deer and the person atop its back. 

On the deer’s back, Kylo sees that Mitaka has unsheathed his own kyber knives.  But now, with the Force coursing through him, Kylo knows that these knives are not formed from kyber crystal, but carved from kyber antler, from a different deer, a different Matriarch, one whose presence is felt here as this Matriarch charges at a rapidly approaching army with the last of the Aetherians upon her back. 

Kylo watches, mouth open, eyes wide, as the deer gallops past him.  He watches as the deer churns up earth in its destructive path, tosses its great head, bellows like the beast it is. 

And Kylo watches as the deer stops in its tracks. 

Watches as the speeder bikes fire, bursts of red in slow motion across the darkness.  Hears the echoing shriek of so many engines.  Smells blood, from Hux near him, who’s dropped his blaster to watch the kyber deer in awe.

Kylo watches as the deer, illuminated by a spotlight, rears upwards, onto its strong hind legs, nearly catapulting the saddleless rider off its back, for he no longer holds onto the deer’s neck, but instead holds his knives high above his head.  The deer rears higher than it ever did in the pen, reaching up to the stars, to a planet it and its rider have never seen.

And then, Kylo sees the deer’s front legs slam down into the ground. 

Through the Force, Kylo feels the tsunami crash upon an island shore.  He feels the earth shake and break its crust in two.  He feels the dying breaths of a star go supernova, echoing into the galaxy, illuminating that which was once dark.  He feels the planet killer, the Starkiller, consume its star and erupt in brilliant, destructive light, rippling the Force itself with the sheer power of its blast. 

Kylo sees the blaster bolts deflected first, careening towards the Hutt’s palace.  Then, the Hutt’s speeder bikes blow back, crashing into each other with a metallic whine of destruction.  He sees foot soldiers blown back to disappear into the darkness.  And from up above, he hears the spotlight ship’s engines give a final groan of effort before the Force crashes the ship into the ground with a deafening boom.

As the Force explosion rushes towards Kylo and Hux, caught in awe for the spectacle before them, Kylo barely remembers to call upon the Force to shield them.  He throws himself in front of Hux, crouching in front of him, to protect him from most of the blast, before creating a Force bubble around them both.  The Force obeys, sheltering Kylo and Hux from the blast.  Kylo can see the tall grass blow backwards, near parallel to the ground with the energy of this Force explosion. 

Soon, there is quiet, only broken by Kylo and Hux’s heavy breaths. 

Hux has long put his blaster away, tucked it back into his cloak.  He looks up at Kylo.  They’re both still panting.  The blood on Hux’s face makes him look feral, rabid like the cur Snoke called him so long ago.  How accurate, Snoke was, but for such wrong reasons.

Kylo looks at his rabid cur, still at awe to what happened, still unable to control his heavy breaths.  Near unthinking, he lifts his hand to cup Hux’s cheek, the one most covered in blood. 

Hux only tilts his head into Kylo’s palms, near collapsing with his next exhale.  He brings up his hand to clutch Kylo’s, to press it harder against his cheek.  This close, Kylo can see every one of Hux’s pale eyelashes, can see the slight freckles that dot the parts of his face not painted in blood. 

With his other hand, Kylo pets at Hux’s hair, relieved that he’s by his side once more.

 

* * *

 

With the Hutt’s forces decimated, opening the exit gates only required Mitaka picking the manual lock, which he did with some grumbling since he had to use his backup lockpicks, which were actually First Order standard lockpicks and not fucking _hairpins_.  Fortunately, Mitaka’s skill in the proper tools was the same as for the improper tools, and they were able to leave without a problem.

Kylo walks slightly behind Hux, Mitaka and their new guest: the kyber deer who helped them escape.  When Hux had brought up releasing the deer into the wild, Mitaka had near _yelled_ his opposition at his general.  Not wanting to start anything, and just wanting to get home, Hux had acquiesced.  The shuttle they had taken here had plenty of room for a giant deer.

“I’m surprised,” Kylo hears Mitaka say to Hux.  Then, Mitaka laughs.  “I wasn’t expecting you to be able to fight the Hutt’s guards with me.  I thought our styles would be too different.  You’ve always favored the blaster.”

“It doesn’t mean I can’t use a knife when I don’t have a blaster,” Hux replies.  “It’s better to be good at two things than great at one.”

“Fuck, have you ever believed that?” Mitaka says back, incredulous.  “Sounds like you’re spouting a bunch of Arkanis catshit.”

“Watch it, you’re talking to the older planet here,” Hux says.  “Aetheria needs to give Arkanis its credit.  You all did come from us, after all.”

“We’re still better,” Mitaka says.  Then, he swears as Hux kicks at him.  “Hey!  You’re hurting the injured here!”

“Oh, cry harder, I’ve seen worse,” Hux says.  “We have bacta on the shuttle, so you can stop your whining.”

“I don’t want bacta,” Mitaka says.  “There’s better stuff on the _Finalizer_.”

“You mean you want to go back to Lieutenant Parnew and have her fuss over you for a week as you lie down, being a baby.”

Mitaka’s only response is to scowl nastily at him.  Hux, in an uncharacteristic move, only laughs.  Then, with a tap to Mitaka’s remaining antler and a pat to the kyber deer Mitaka leans against, for he limps along on his left leg, Hux walks back to Kylo, who holds up the rear.

For a while, Kylo and Hux don’t speak.  Then, Kylo clears his throat.

“We’ve…acquired the million credits we needed,” Kylo says.  “It’s already been transferred through a secure channel to one of the First Order banks.  I’ve also already sent orders for the financial officers to transfer the money to the necessary places.”  Kylo pauses.  “I’ll also be sending money to the Dayashi Yui, just in case.”

Hux snorts a laugh.  “Good idea.  Just in case word gets out that the First Order employs an Aetherian and the Hutt wants vengeance.”

They emerge from the forest to enter a clearing.  Just ahead is the shuttle they took here.

Kylo watches as Mitaka limps his way to the shuttle before he unlocks it with a press of a hidden button.  Soon, he’s able to limp aboard.  The kyber deer follows him, like a duckling following the mother duck, ducking its antlered head to make it inside. 

“He is going to put some bacta on, right?” Kylo asks, a bit concerned.  Some of Mitaka’s injuries looked nasty.

Hux waves a hand.  “He’ll do it for the more serious ones.  But Mitaka likes to leave behind some injuries for Parnew to find.  She worries about him.”

“Who’s Parnew?”

“Another one of my lieutenants,” Hux says, looking to the shuttle.  “Cassini Parnew.  Mitaka calls her Cassie.  She likes to fuss over his injuries.  I once saw Lieutenant Mitaka not treat a paper cut because he knew Parnew would kiss it better.”  Hux’s lips quirk upwards.  “Guess that’s what a relationship’s like.”

“Yeah,” Kylo says.  He shuffles his feet on the clearing ground, ruffling dying grass around.  “So.  Are you, um, injured anywhere, Hux?”

Hux blinks before looking at Kylo.  “Hmm, me?  Well, not really, to be honest.”  He looks down at himself.  “The ones I have are the ones you see.”

Kylo nods.  “Yeah.”

Hux clears his throat.  “Do you have any injuries, Supreme Leader?”

Kylo near startles at his new title.  In the heat of all this, he’s nearly forgotten he’s in charge of an entire organization that he knows next to nothing about.  “Oh, um, no.”

“I see.”

Kylo looks to Hux, standing next to him.  Now, in the clearing, far from the Hutt’s garish palace, the light from the stars and moon is so bright.  It reflects off Hux’s face, making him near ethereal, like a spirit that only haunts these woods, this clearing.  And isn’t Kylo right?  He has never seen a Hux like the one who stands in front of him now, blood-soaked, adrenaline rushing from battle, from calling tactical decisions and from achieving victory by his own hands.

And like hell could Kylo have predicted what Lieutenant Mitaka would end up as.  Before this, he had just been another officer, nameless, a cog in the great First Order war machine.  Now, Kylo is full of questions, wanting to sit Mitaka down for hours and ask him where he got the kyber antler knives, if he made them, what Aetheria is and why Arkanis and Aetheria seem to have this strange relationship.

But for now, Kylo looks at Hux, standing in the moon and starlight, staring up at him in expectation.  Hux’s hands clutch at the cloak, holding it tight around his throat.

Just like he did in the Hutt’s yard, Kylo raises a hand to cup Hux’s face.  Just like he did in the Hutt’s yard, Hux tilts his head into Kylo’s palm.

“I missed you,” Kylo near whispers.  “I felt…so lost, without your presence by my side.”

“Critiquing you?”

“Inspiring me,” Kylo corrects.  “Showing me a way I could never see.”  He pauses.  “Leading the First Order to heights never seen by this galaxy.”

“What are you saying?” Hux asks.  He lifts his hand to rub at the collar of Kylo’s shirt, pulling it to the side to expose some of Kylo’s skin.

Kylo wraps his other hand around Hux’s waist.  “What I’m saying,” he says, leaning down to whisper this into Hux’s ear.  “Is that we will bring greatness to this galaxy…” Hux near shudders with Kylo’s breath against his ears.  Through the Force, Kylo can feel Hux’s heartbeat spiking, the nerves of his spine tingling, arousal pooling deep in his stomach. 

Kylo pulls Hux closer, to press against his chest, so that their heartbeats thump against each other, further exciting them, further emphasizing this moment, one taken in the clearing of a forest under the light of the moon and stars of a planet Kylo has already forgotten the name of, though he remembers Hux’s own like its branded across the flesh of his heart.

“Grand Marshal Armitage Hux.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually planned to write an additional chapter to this, hearkening back to the shitposting roots of this fic, where Kylo, Hux and Mitaka (+ the kyber deer) stop at Space McDonald's to get some food since they haven't really eaten anything in a while haha. I might write it still, but will post it to my tumblr if I do.
> 
> Gotta be serious here! It's serious business on lady-starkiller's ao3!
> 
> If you enjoyed this long fic and want to talk to me about Aetheria, kyber deer or the other topics I write about in this fic, you can come yell with me on tumblr @lady-starkiller or on twitter @LadySt4rkiller.
> 
> I'll see you soon with a new fic! I think I'll finish that explicit fic haha ;D


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